Computerized process to, for example, automate the home sale, mortgage loan financing and settlement process, and the home mortgage loan refinancing and settlement processes

ABSTRACT

In some embodiments, a comprehensive computer system and method (See FIGS.  1, 1   a,    2 ) for automating and facilitating the performing and processing of tasks, information transfer, and information storage associated with the home sale (See FIG.  3   a ), mortgage origination (See FIG.  3   b ), and settlement process (See FIG.  3   c ), and the home mortgage refinancing origination and settlement process (See FIGS.  1   b   , 1   c   , 2   a ) (or performing other business processes), over a distributed computing network are disclosed.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of and claims priority to U.S.application Ser. No. 10/979,822 entitled “A Computerized Process To, ForExample, Automate the Home Sale, Mortgage Loan Financing and SettlementProcess, And The Home Mortgage Loan Refinancing And SettlementProcesses,” filed Nov. 3, 2004 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,548,884 by NeilThomas, which is a continuation of and claims priority to U.S.application Ser. No. 10/969,242, entitled “A Computerized Process To,For Example, Automate the Home Sale, Mortgage Loan Financing andSettlement Process, And The Home Mortgage Loan Refinancing AndSettlement Processes,” filed on Oct. 21, 2004 now abandoned by NeilThomas, which claims priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 to U.S. ProvisionalPatent Application No. 60/512,776 entitled “A Computerized Process To,For Example, Automate The Home Sale, Mortgage Loan Financing andSettlement Process, And The Home Mortgage Loan Refinancing AndSettlement Processes” filed on Oct. 21, 2003 by Neil Thomas. Thecomplete disclosures, specifications and drawings of U.S. applicationSer. No 10/979,822, U.S. application Ser. No. 10/969,242 and U.S.Provisional Application No. 60/512,776 are incorporated herein byspecific reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Technical Field of Invention

The preferred embodiments of the invention relates to a comprehensivecomputer system for automating and facilitating the performing andprocessing of tasks, information transfer, and information storageassociated with the home sale, mortgage origination and settlementprocess, and the home mortgage refinancing origination and settlementprocess, over a distributed computing network.

Discussion of Background References

Traditionally the home sale process, the mortgage origination processand the settlement/title process have been considered to be threeentirely separate functions. Typically the real estate company is in oneoffice, the mortgage company in another and the settlement company instill another. They typically have never been looked at as parts of onelarger, continuous process, particularly when it comes to technology.

Consequently, real estate sales, mortgage companies and settlementcompanies use various and differing technology to assist them inperforming their respective sale, mortgage and settlement activities.The existing programs for the real estate office do only portions, butnot all of the functions for the real estate agent, or real estate salesoffice of a new home builder; some only access the ‘multiple listingservice’ or MLS, or builder home inventory in the case of the builder,others only create the contract of sale or other contract documents,others keep track of buyers, sellers, and service providers such as homeinspectors, termite inspectors, etc., while still other programs onlyorder services.

Similarly, various programs for mortgage origination do portions of theprocess. Some just send mortgage ‘loan quotes’ to the borrower and allowthem to select a loan, while other mortgage programs are ‘point of sale’(POS) programs either for the borrower to interact with a Internet webpage to fill in information to request a loan or for a mortgage loanofficer to take down the borrower's application information, often useanother ‘loan origination system’ (LOS) to underwrite the loan, andstill other mortgage lender programs prepare loan documents such as thenote, deed of trust, disclosures, affidavits, etc. after the loan isapproved.

Then there are still other programs which the settlement companies usethat do strictly the title, settlement and closing functions such astaking orders, ordering services such as title reports and surveys, andpreparing the settlement statement (HUD-1), including escrow accounting,and prepare documents such as the title commitment and policy,affidavits, and legal documents such as recording forms, deeds, etc.

In addition to these programs, the real estate agent, the lender and thesettlement company may use a combination of e-mail, faxes and phones tocommunicate with others to complete their part of the process.

These multitudes of programs have limited value and slow the processbecause users have to rehandle, reenter, and wait for information fromother parties; they have limited functionality in common and require useof more than one tool for users to perform their jobs thereby causingneedless work, delay and expense.

To date, no one has operationally connected these different existingreal estate agent, mortgage lender and settlement technologies together.The so-called ‘transaction management’ systems, which have been inexistence since the late 1990s, have been primarily designed withfeatures for the real estate agent to use, some having a built-inproperty ‘listings’ or home database, and a ‘contact database’ forkeeping track of buyers, seller, service providers, etc. They typicallycombine features for scheduling and tracking tasks, a ‘group calendar’for parties to monitor activities and status on the Internet, and forordering services by the real estate agent, buyer or seller such asinspections and settlement.

A number of these ‘transaction management’ programs have addedadditional parties to the process in the form of a ‘transactioncoordinator’ or a ‘move consultant’ which just adds to the overall costof doing the process and does not simplify the process.

All of the existing technologies are incomplete, leaving gaps in theprocess, and as a result they have not been well received in the marketplace and the overwhelming majority has either gone out of business orhas been bought in liquidation proceedings over the past several years.All of these ‘transaction management’ systems deal with only portions ofthe over-all home sale, mortgage and settlement process, and stillrequire, among other things, many of the users to reenter information ina separate programs to use this technology, or require their‘integration’ with different programs to try to ‘connect’ the differentprograms used by the real estate company, mortgage company andsettlement company to communicate with each other.

None of these ‘transaction management’ programs allow, among otherthings, the lender or the settlement company to perform their respectivetasks within these programs. Instead they must continue to use theirseparate, existing, older technology together with these new programs.

While the lender may receive some loan application information and asettlement company may receive order information from a website, andthey may be able to receive documents which are created in otherprograms and then ‘downloaded’ by the other parties, and may be able to‘communicate’ with others in the process, or view the status on awebpage in the ‘transaction management system’ this information stillhas to be transported at some point to their older existing technologyto perform their part of the process, either manually by a person, or by‘integrating’ the ‘transaction management’ system with their existingmortgage loan origination or settlement technologies.

There are literally dozens of real estate sale programs, dozens ofmortgage origination programs and dozens of settlement and titleprograms, each having different functions and design structures, fieldnames, etc. To try to integrate all these technologies is very complex,ineffective and costly with the resulting information shared andfunctionality being limited in scope and there for the value to theusers is limited.

The alternative is to have a loan officer who takes the application waitfor and reenter information into their existing loan technology, andthen the settlement company personnel have to again wait for reenterinformation into their existing software and then somehow get it back tothe other. If there are any changes, or information is incorrect, thethen whole waiting, communication and reentry process begins over again.These ‘transaction programs’ only allow ‘posting’ or ‘uploading’ oflender documents or settlement closing documents to be sent or sharedwith others. But, none of the programs have provisions for creatingthese ‘other’ documents by the lender, settlement companies or otherswhich must be created in their existing separate programs.

Not surprisingly, none of these so-called ‘transaction management’programs have been very successful in the market and there have beennumerous business failures by the companies which have produced them.

There is, however, no complete program that performs, for example, theentire process home sale, mortgage origination and settlement process inone single technology platform including, for example, all the saleactivities of the real estate agent or builder sales office, all theloan origination activities of the mortgage loan office, and all theactivities of the settlement company. Similarly, there is no completeprogram that performs, for example, the entire home mortgage refinancingorigination and settlement process in one technology platform.

The various embodiments of the present invention provide substantialimprovements over, among other things, the forgoing backgroundtechnologies and the technologies disclosed in, e.g., the followingreferences:

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Some Illustrative Disadvantages of Background References

Some of the many disadvantages of the various background referencesinclude one or more of the following and/or other disadvantages:incomplete solutions leaving crucial gaps in the process; multiple entryof information; and complex ‘patchwork’ solutions which try to connectexisting real estate, mortgage and settlement technologies which aremore costly to build, maintain and upgrade, have less functionality andvalue for users, result in a more inefficient and slower process, and/orare more prone to errors, mistakes and confusion.

Advantages of Some Illustrative Embodiments of the Invention

In some preferred embodiments, some advantages that may be achieved, ifdesired, (such as, e.g., with a comprehensive computer system for theentire home sale, mortgage origination and settlement process accordingto some embodiments described herein) can include, among other things,one or more of the following and/or other advantages: 1. it reduces workby all parties allowing the process to be highly automated, eliminatingand reducing work currently being performed manually; 2. it reducesredundant and repetitive tasks of manually entering the same informationnumerous times in different computer programs, so information can beentered once for the entire transaction, not just portions of thetransaction; 3. it reduces work, time, cost and chances of errorassociated with having to manually rehandle information numerous times,first having the real estate agent reenter information to perform tasksor transfer to more than one program, having the mortgage companyreenter information to perform tasks or transfer to other programs, andthen having the settlement personnel have to once again reenter ortransfer information to other programs; 4. it allows transactioninformation to be instantly available to immediately perform additionaltasks anywhere in the process; 5. it allows transaction information andstatus information to be instantly available to all parties asappropriate, thus reducing confusion, delays and uncertainty and chancesof errors in the process; 6. it reduces the cost of completing atransaction; 7. it reduces the number of personnel necessary to completea transaction; 8. it reduces or even eliminates waiting time and reducesthe overall time required to complete a transaction; 9. it providesgreater reliability which can be built into the process; 10. it assuresthat important sale and mortgage disclosure information and documentsrequired by law be given to the seller or the buyer, or the refinancinghome owner, on a timely basis; 11. it greatly reduces the cost,complexity, unreliability, and design limitations of trying to connecttogether, or ‘integrate’ different computer systems, one for the realestate agent, another for the mortgage company, and another for thesettlement company, etc., in an effort to perform this process; 12. itresults in a system with greater and more functional features for users;13. it provides a more highly automated system without gaps in theprocess; in other words, for example, the instant the loan officer doessomething to approve the loan, the documents can be automaticallyprepared and sent to the settlement company and the borrower in seconds;14. it is easier and cheaper to change or modify, add features, orupgrade the system from time to time; this is important withever-changing technology and constantly changing market conditions; 15.such a comprehensively designed system is more reliable and less likelyto malfunction or ‘crash’; 16. it is less costly to build and maintain;and/or 17. the process can be simplified, streamlined and made more userfriendly by combining, eliminating one or more functions or steps, orpresenting information or allowing functions to be performed in a moreunderstandable and efficient way.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The preferred embodiments of the invention provide, among other things,a comprehensive computer system for automating and facilitating theperforming and processing of tasks, information transfer, and storageassociated with the home sale, mortgage financing and settlementprocess, and the home mortgage refinancing origination and settlementprocess over a distributed computing network in one technology. Thetechnology can, among other things, automate the entire real estate homesale, mortgage loan, and settlement process in one program, includingmany or all of the activities performed by many or all of the variousparticipants in the transaction: the seller, the buyer, the sales agent,the mortgage loan officer, loan underwriter and loan processor, and thesettlement company personnel, as well as service providers such as homeinspectors, appraisers, surveyors, title abstractors, etc. It can alsobe modified to automate just the mortgage refinancing origination andsettlement process in one program for the borrower, mortgage loan andthe settlement company personnel and corresponding service providers.

The preferred embodiments can be implemented using computer processesthat, among other things, automate, change and enhance ‘real world’processes currently being used, ineffectively and with significantlimitations, by the real estate, mortgage, and settlement markets today.In the preferred embodiments, the computer processes are not needed tobe performed using an unusual hybrid system. In some embodiments, inaddition to enhancing ‘real world’ processes and enhancing the way realestate is sold today, the process could be modified for otherenvironments, such as, e.g. for a ‘self-help’ buyer or seller to use, ora ‘for sale by owner’ solution without the help of a real estate agentor sales person, could be used on a kiosk in a shopping mall or could beadapted to be used with a ‘move consultant’ or ‘transactioncoordinator,’ or the like.

In some embodiments, the real estate agent or sales person can send andreceive detailed information with the seller and buyer, lender and/orsettlement company, enter and search for information on homes for salefrom a database, create a listing agreement, a contract of sale andother sale documents and share with others, search for, select amortgage loan quote, apply for and completely arrange for mortgagefinancing for the buyer, and/or order and receive services fromthird-party service providers. In some embodiments, the mortgage lendercan provide the buyer a loan quote for various loan products, receivedetailed buyer, property and sale information, prequalify or preapprovethe borrower for a loan product selected by the borrower, take the fullloan application, underwrite, approve and prepare and send all loandocuments. In some embodiments, the settlement company can receiveorders including some or all of the buyer, seller, property, saleinformation and/or mortgage loan information and documents, including,e.g. complete lender instructions, and/or can prepare all legal, titleand/or settlement documents including the settlement statement with fullescrow accounting functions.

In the preferred embodiments, all or substantially all of the processescan be done using one technology platform, such as, e.g., using one baseprogram.

In some embodiments, In the case of a home mortgage refinance, theborrower can, for example, search for, select a mortgage loan quote,enter and send borrower and property information; the mortgage lendercan receive detailed borrower, and property information, prequalify orpreapprove the borrower for a loan product selected by the borrower,take the full loan application, underwrite, approve and prepare and sendall loan documents; and the settlement company can receive ordersincluding all borrower, property information and mortgage loaninformation and documents, including complete lender settlementinstructions, and prepare all legal, title and settlement documentsincluding the settlement statement with full escrow accountingfunctions.

In some embodiments, the technology allows all or substantially allinformation to be entered once (and, in some embodiments, corrected ifnecessary) for the entire transaction, be transmitted instantly over adistributed computing network, either manually or automatically, andmade immediately available to all appropriate parties to perform alltheir respective activities within the same program, as necessary, thussaving time, work and expense.

In some embodiments, a single technology can, in contrast to existingsystems, integrate an entire real estate sale, mortgage, and settlementprocess into one system—connecting the seller, buyer, real estate agent(or sales office in the case of a new home builder), or for a homerefinancing with the borrower, and the mortgage loan originationactivities for the lender, and settlement activities for the settlementcompany and service provider activities, allowing each user to performall the activities for their portion of the process.

In some embodiments, a marked improvement can be achieved over the stateof existing technology. Among other things, the preferred embodiments donot require use of one or more separate program for each of the realestate sale office, the mortgage office, settlement office and serviceproviders, which might otherwise allow the performance of only portionsof the process and require parties to do repetitive tasks. When combinedwith many manual tasks which users have to perform such as making phonecalls, copying, faxing, etc., current existing technologies requireconsiderable repetitive work, greater delay, greater errors, and moreuncertainty.

In some embodiments, there is a separate Virtual Office for each primaryuser, for example in a real estate sale transaction the real estateoffice, the mortgage lender, the settlement company, and serviceproviders, allowing each to access appropriate information and performall the appropriate tasks associated with their roll for eachtransaction over a secure distributed network. In addition, the seller,the buyer, or home owner if a refinancing, and service providers will beable to access and participate in the process via a ‘Virtual Desktop’which allows them receive order and perform their entire service withinthis one single technology.

Summary Objects and Advantages of the Preferred Embodiments of theInvention

In some preferred embodiments, objectives and advantages that canpotentially be achieved can include one or more of the following: 1. itprovides a smoother, simpler, continuous process from the beginning tothe end of the entire home sale, mortgage origination and settlementprocess; 2. it reduces work by all parties allowing the process to behighly automated, eliminating and reducing work currently beingperformed manually; 3. it reduces redundant and repetitive tasks ofmanually entering the same information numerous times in differentcomputer programs; so information can be entered once for the entiretransaction, not just portions of the transaction; 4. it reduces work,time, cost and chances of error associated with having to manuallyrehandle information numerous times, first having the real estate agentreenter information to perform tasks or transfer to more than oneprogram, having the mortgage company reenter information to performtasks or transfer to other programs, and then having the settlementpersonnel have to once again reenter or transfer information to otherprograms; 5. it allows transaction information to be instantly availableto immediately perform additional tasks anywhere in the process, thusreducing confusion, delays and uncertainty and chances of errors in theprocess; 6. it reduces the cost of completing a transaction; 7. itreduces the number of personnel necessary to complete a transaction; 8.it reduces or even eliminates waiting time and reduces the overall timerequired to complete a transaction; 9. it provides for greaterreliability to be built into the process; 10. it assures that importantsale and mortgage disclosure information and documents required by lawbe given to the seller or the buyer, or the refinancing home owner, on atimely basis; 11. it greatly reduces the cost, complexity,unreliability, and design limitations of trying to connect together, or‘integrate’ different computer systems, one for the real estate agent,another for the mortgage company, and another for the settlementcompany, etc, in an effort to perform this process; 12. it results in asystem with greater and more functional features for users; 13. itprovides a more highly automated system without any gaps in the process;14. it provides a simpler system which is less costly to build andmaintain; 15. it is easier and cheaper to change or modify, addfeatures, or upgrade the system from time to time; this is importantwith ever-changing technology and constantly changing market conditions;16. it is more reliable and less likely to malfunction or ‘crash’;and/or, 17. the process can be simplified, streamlined and made moreuser friendly by combining, eliminating one or more functions or steps,or presenting information or allowing functions to be performed in amore understandable and efficient way.

The above and/or other aspects, features and/or advantages of variousembodiments will be further appreciated in view of the followingdescription in conjunction with the accompanying figures. Variousembodiments can include and/or exclude different aspects, featuresand/or advantages where applicable. In addition, various embodiments cancombine one or more aspect or feature of other embodiments whereapplicable. The descriptions of aspects, features and/or advantages ofparticular embodiments should not be construed as limiting otherembodiments or the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying figures are provided by way of example, withoutlimiting the broad scope of the invention or various embodiments of theinvention.

FIG. 1 is a System Overview and Architecture of a Home Sale, MortgageFinancing and Settlement Computer Process;

FIG. 1 a is a System Overview and Architecture Showing AncillaryDatabases & Systems Detail for Home Sale, Mortgage Financing andSettlement Computer Process;

FIG. 1 b is a System Overview and Architecture of a Home MortgageRefinancing and Settlement Computer Process;

FIG. 1 c is a System Overview and Architecture Showing AncillaryDatabases & Systems Detail for Home Mortgage Refinancing and SettlementComputer Process;

FIG. 1 d is a System Overview and Architecture of a Home Sale, MortgageFinancing and Settlement Computer Process Integrated with Extrinsic RealEstate, Mortgage, Settlement and Other Programs;

FIG. 2 is a view depicting Basic Home Sale, Mortgage Financing andSettlement Information and Basic Document Workflow Process;

FIG. 2 a is a view depicting Basic Home Mortgage Refinancing andSettlement Information and Basic Document Workflow Process;

FIG. 3 a is a view depicting Detailed Virtual Real Estate OfficeInformation and Document Workflow Process;

FIG. 3 b is a view depicting Detailed Virtual Mortgage OfficeInformation and Document Workflow Process;

FIG. 3 c is a view depicting Detailed Virtual Settlement OfficeInformation and Document Workflow Process;

FIG. 3 d is a view depicting Detailed Seller Virtual Desktop Informationand Document Workflow Process;

FIG. 3 e is a view depicting Detailed Buyer Virtual Desktop Informationand Document Workflow Process;

FIG. 4 is a view depicting Virtual Office and Work Area Screen Layout;

FIG. 4 a is a view depicting Virtual Real Estate Office Work AreaSummary Information;

FIG. 4 b is a view depicting Virtual Mortgage Office Work Area SummaryInformation;

FIG. 4 c is a view depicting Virtual Settlement Office Work Area SummaryInformation;

FIG. 5 is a view depicting Customer (Buyer, Seller) Virtual Desktop andWork Area Screen Layout;

FIG. 6 is a view depicting Service Provider Virtual Desktop and WorkArea Screen Layout;

FIG. 7 is a view depicting Sample Virtual Office Calendar;

FIG. 8 is a view depicting Sample Virtual Office Tab Table File Drawer;

FIG. 9 is a view depicting Virtual Real Estate Office TransactionNavigator and View;

FIG. 10 is a view depicting Seller Information Tab Table;

FIG. 11 is a view depicting Property Information Tab Table;

FIG. 12 is a view depicting Buyer Information Tab Table;

FIG. 13 is a view depicting Property Search for Home Tab Table withSearch Results;

FIG. 13 a is a view depicting Property Search for Home Tab Table withSearch Results, Loan Information, Service Information, and OwnershipCost Information;

FIG. 14 is a view depicting Property Sale Summary Information Tab Table;

FIG. 15 is a view depicting Contract of Sale (Sample);

FIG. 16 is a view depicting Mortgage Search & Prequalify/Pre-approve TabTable with Search Results;

FIG. 17 is a view depicting Mortgage Prequalified/Pre-approved Letter;

FIG. 18 is a view depicting Mortgage Prequalified/Pre-approved Tab Tablewith Loan Summary Information;

FIG. 19 is a view depicting Services Order New Service Tab Table(Showing Virtual Real Estate Office Services);

FIG. 20 is a view depicting Services Order New Service Tab Table ShowingBidding Status with Bid Results (Showing Virtual Real Estate OfficeServices);

FIG. 21 is a view depicting Service Provider Virtual Desktop Work AreaShowing Bid Request and Order Information Tab Table;

FIG. 22 is a view depicting Service Provider Virtual Desktop Work AreaShowing Service Order and Order Information Tab Table;

FIG. 23 is a view depicting Services Order New Service Table ShowingConfirmed Order Status (Showing Virtual Real Estate Office Services);

FIG. 24 is a view depicting Virtual Mortgage Office TransactionNavigator and View;

FIG. 25 is a view depicting Mortgage Loan Quote Tab Table;

FIG. 25 a is a view depicting Mortgage Loan Quote Tab Table SearchResults;

FIG. 26 is a view depicting Mortgage Loan Prequalified/Pre-approved TabTable Showing Loan Summary;

FIG. 26 a is a view depicting Mortgage Loan Prequalified/Pre-approvedTab Table Showing Loan Summary (continued);

FIG. 27 is a view depicting Mortgage Residential Loan Application Form1003 Entry Tab Tables;

FIG. 28 is a view depicting Mortgage Loan Approved Loan Summary TabTable;

FIG. 28 a is a view depicting Mortgage Loan Approved Loan Summary TabTable (Continued);

FIG. 29 is a view depicting Virtual Settlement Office TransactionNavigator and View;

FIG. 30 is a view depicting Virtual Settlement Office Order Tab Table;

FIG. 31 is a view depicting Virtual Settlement Office Title DocumentsTab Table;

FIG. 32 is a view depicting Virtual Settlement Office SettlementStatement HUD-1 Entry Tab Tables;

FIG. 33 is a view depicting Virtual Settlement Office Escrow AccountingEntry Tab Tables;

FIG. 34 is a view depicting Virtual Settlement Office Escrow AccountingEntry Tab Online Electronic Payment Tab Table;

FIG. 35 is a view depicting Virtual Settlement Office Online ElectronicLand Records Recording Transmittal (Sample);

FIG. 36 is a view depicting Virtual Settlement Office Online ElectronicTransmittal (Sample).

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

General Description

The following description sets forth some illustrative preferredembodiments of the invention. It should be understood based on thisdisclosure that the following description is illustrative andnon-limiting and that various modifications, alterations, changes and/orthe like can be employed in various embodiments of the invention. Inaddition, various components of the various embodiments can be replacedwith equivalent structures (including presently known equivalents and/orfuture known equivalents) as would be understood based on thisdisclosure.

The preferred embodiments provide, for example, a comprehensive computersystem for automating and facilitating the performing and processing oftasks, and information transfer and storage associated with the homesale, mortgage financing and settlement process over a distributedcomputing network 40 (See FIG. 1). The technology automates the entirereal estate home sale, mortgage loan, and settlement process in onecontinuous computer program, including all the various participantsperforming all their activities in the transaction: the seller 10 (SeeFIG. 3 d), the buyer 15 (See FIG. 3 e), the real estate sales officepersonnel 20 (See FIG. 3 a), the mortgage loan officer, loanunderwriter, loan processor and loan closer 30 (See FIG. 3 b), thesettlement company personnel 35 (See FIG. 3 c), and various serviceproviders 25, (See FIGS. 19-23).

A home can include, for example any dwelling such as a single-familyhome, a condominium, cooperative, mobile home, vacant land for a home, aduplex, or a multiple dwelling unit building. It can also includecommercial real estate including land and buildings, as moreparticularly described in alternative embodiments hereinafter described.

In this disclosure, the term ‘user’ of the system used hereinafterincludes, inter one or more of the following terms: real estate agent,real estate office, real estate personnel, real estate broker whichshould be should be construed broadly and read as interchangeable andtheir functions being performed by one or more of them or the process;in addition, mortgage lender or mortgage office should be construedbroadly including, for example mortgage brokers, direct mortgagelenders, mortgage correspondents, wholesale lenders, finders and theirpersonnel and read as interchangeable and their functions beingperformed by one or more of them or the process; in addition, settlementoffice or settlement personnel should be construed broadly and mayinclude for example attorneys, title insurance companies and theirpersonnel and read as interchangeable and their functions beingperformed by one or more of them or the process; service providers andcorresponding services should be construed in a very broad sense othersproviding services or information in the process which can include, forexample: advertising, delivery, home warranty, well & septic service,real estate signs, architect, home improvement and repairs,construction, home inspection, pest inspection, environmentalinspections, moving and storage, landscaping, insurance, appraiser,credit reporting, mortgage insurance, flood certifications, existingloan payoff information from third-party lenders, real estate taxinformation, HOA disclosure and documents, title abstractor, surveyor,public or private utility providers, entities providing employment,loan, deposit or other verifications for the mortgage lender, publicrecord and title search (title abstract), governmental departments andagencies such as for example land record or court offices, third-partymortgage investors, etc. Mortgage loan financing can include one or moredifferent types of loans, for example, a first mortgage, a secondmortgage, a construction loan, home equity financing, or any combinationthereof.

In addition, a modification of this system is a comprehensive computersystem for automating and facilitating the performing and processing oftasks, and information transfer and storage associated with the homemortgage refinancing and settlement process over a distributed computingnetwork (See FIGS. 1 b, 1 c, 2 a). Although the detailed description ofthe system, hereinafter, describes the home sale, mortgage originationand settlement process, the process, as described, can be modified forthe home mortgage refinancing and settlement process (See FIGS. 1 b, 1c, 2 a) which would, in effect, eliminate the seller, real estate agentand office, sale contract and sale process from the process leaving thebuyer a ‘borrower’ 16 performing the mortgage origination process withthe mortgage lender and the settlement company only as well as therespective service providers. In regard to this ‘refinancing’modification, the reader should hereinafter disregard references to‘sale,’ ‘seller,’ ‘Seller Virtual Desktop’, ‘builder,’ ‘Virtual RealEstate Office,’ ‘real estate sale office’ or ‘real estate salepersonnel,’ ‘sale contract documents,’ ‘purchase,’ ‘deed,’ etc. anddescriptions of any and all associated ‘sale’ activities, as well ascorresponding references in the drawings such as (See FIGS. 1, 1 a, 2)which refer to only the sale process, and substitute the term ‘borrower’16 for ‘buyer’ 15 and ‘Borrower Virtual Desktop’ 16 for ‘Buyer VirtualDesktop,’ 15 etc. in understanding the process for a home mortgagerefinancing. In addition, embodiments described herein can be modified,by those in the art based on this disclosure, in other environments,such as, e.g., for either the home sale or the refinance process basedon this detailed description.

In the preferred embodiments, computer processes can be used toautomate, upgrade and enhance ‘real world’ processes currently beingineffectively employed by the real estate, mortgage, and settlementmarkets today. As indicated above, while the preferred embodimentsinvolve a ‘real world’ process designed for the way real estate is soldtoday, the process could be modified for a ‘self-help’ buyer or sellerto use, or a ‘for sale by owner’ solution without the help of a realestate agent or sales person, could be used on, e.g., a kiosk in ashopping mall or could be adapted to be used with a ‘move consultant’ or‘transaction coordinator,’ or an equivalent.

In some of the preferred embodiments, various manipulations hereindescribed are often referred to in terms such as, e.g., adding,entering, requesting, receiving, retrieving, correcting, changing,performing, saving, viewing, sending, comparing, moving, etc. which areoften associated with manual operations performed by a human operator.In the preferred embodiments, the various operations described hereinare performed, for example either in conjunction with input from a humanoperator or user interacting with the computer processes, or, whendesired, all such operations can be performed by the computer processitself, and should be understood as such.

In the preferred embodiments, a comprehensive technology allowsinformation to be entered once, either manually by a participant, orautomatically by a process, or requested and received from ancillarydatabases or systems 75 (See FIGS. 1, 1 a), said ancillary databases orsystems being alternatively internal to the system 50, or third-partyexternal ancillary databases or systems, be transmitted over adistributed computing network 40, saved in one or more databases 50, 75,and appropriate information made available at any appropriate times, asnecessary, appropriate or expedient, to any other appropriate parties orthe application server 45 to perform further activities, tasks,documents or processes of the entire transaction, or subsequentlychanged or corrected if necessary.

Information may be in various forms and includes, for example text,formulas, computer instructions, graphics, or audio and video whetherrecorded or transmitted in real-time.

It is noted that ancillary databases or systems may be either internal50 or external 75 to the basic system described herein, but which,nevertheless, are an integral part thereof.

These ancillary databases or systems can include, for example, some orall of the following: Comparable Sale Database, Multiple Listing ServiceMLS Database, Builder Home Inventory Database, Digital Lockbox Systems,Utility Provider Systems, Real Estate Document Database, MortgageProduct and Pricing Database, Automated Mortgage UnderwritingApplications, Service Provider Forms Database, Credit Reporting Systems,Automated Appraisal Systems, Automated Mortgage Insurance Underwriting,Mortgage Document Database, Mortgage Loan Servicing Systems, Flood MapCertification Systems and Database, Title and Closing DocumentDatabases, Real Estate Tax Databases, Transfer Taxes, Recording ChargesDatabase, Title Plant or Land or Other Public Records Databases.

These databases 50, 75 can include such information as, for example,some or all of the following: seller information, property information,listing information, buyer personal information, buyer home purchasesearch criteria information, buyer home purchase search criteria resultsinformation, real estate sales office information, contract of saleinformation, buyer employment and financial information, buyer mortgageloan search criteria information, buyer mortgage loan search criteriaresults information, mortgage loan origination office information,mortgage loan prequalification or preapproval information, mortgage loanapplication information, mortgage loan underwriting information,approved mortgage loan information, mortgage loan document information,settlement office information, settlement order information, settlementstatement information, settlement escrow accounting information, titleand recording information, survey information, real estate taxinformation, flood map information, existing loan payoff information,real estate transfer tax and recording information, service providerinformation, service provider service information, transaction task andstatus information.

While the system may be implemented on one computer system such as asingle personal computer, it is more likely to be implemented on adistributed computing network 40 (See FIG. 1). The distributed computingnetwork 40 (See FIG. 1) may be a local area network (LAN) or a wide areanetwork (WAN), such as, for example the Internet, a hard-wired orwireless network, or any combination thereof, and most likely will beimplemented on the Internet or an Extranet.

The basic process can be varied or augmented numerous ways with suchthings as: 1. screen lay outs and content can be varied; 2. allowingusers to input or retrieve information via an Internet device such as a‘digital Internet cell phone’ or a ‘palm pilot’; 3. portions of theprocess can be simplified and/or automated, eliminating or combiningcertain functions, steps or participants, for example by allowing aseller and buyer and seller perform a transaction without the aid of areal estate agent; 4. a customer or user can be allowed to ‘input’ orretrieve information via a telephone ‘voice response’ or ‘touch-tone’technology 70 (See FIGS. 1, 1 b); 5. a system can be developed formultiple companies so that different users will only use portions of thesystem, i.e. an ‘Internet’, or one system can be built for one companywhere everyone within one company, other than the seller, buyer andservice providers, use all of the system, i.e. an ‘extranet;’ or, 6. theprocess can be simplified and the real estate sales, mortgage andsettlement office screens can be combined so that only one or two peoplecould perform the enter process in a fraction of the time; and 7. theorder of steps and processes can be varied.

One or more application servers 45 run computer program processes whichperform the functions necessary to send and display screens to users toenter and view information, and perform their activities on remote, orlocal computing devices, such as for example a personal computerconnected to the Internet, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, receive informationback from users, process it if necessary, store it in one or moredatabases 50, send it if necessary for use or processing by one or moreancillary systems or databases 75 (See FIGS. 1 a, 1 c) such as amultiple listing service or automated mortgage underwriting systems toperform necessary ancillary processes or activities 75 (See FIG. 1 a)receive back results and save to one or more databases 50 (See FIG. 1)and make it available to all appropriate parties by again sending anddisplaying screens to users to view and perform subsequent activities oncomputing devices.

Although and there are numerous computer technologies with which thiscomputer process could be developed and carried out, includingconnecting together older existing computer programs, such as forexample various real estate sales, mortgage and settlement programs, soinformation can be passed from one program and user to another, thepreferred embodiments of the invention, provide a comprehensiveclient-server technology (See FIG. 1) allowing the users to use apersonal computer (PC) with a display to view ‘GUI’ screens, and commoninput devices, for example a mouse and keyboard 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35which access an application server(s) 45 over the Internet or over asecure ‘Extranet’, via TCP/IP 40. The application server(s) 45 wouldconnect to one or more relational databases 50, 75 for transaction datato be saved and retrieved. These databases could be built in typicaldatabase programs such as, for example, SQL, DB2 and Oracle, and theapplication server process could be programmed in such tools as, forexample, ASP and DOTNET programming environment from Microsoft,PeopleSoft's ‘Portal’, or IBM's ‘Domino,’ ‘Websphere’ and ‘WebspherePortal’ in conjunction with using XML, JAVA and HTML or otherprogramming tools. In addition, there are one or more ‘ancillary’databases and systems 75, (See FIG. 1 a) such as, for example realestate sale forms, homes databases, automated mortgage underwriting,mortgage document forms, etc. with which the application server canexchange information. These ‘ancillary databases’ 75 (See FIGS. 1 a, 1c) may be developed with the system, or they may be provided bythird-parties, and accessed via programming tools such as, for exampleXML.

The preferred embodiments and best mode of carrying out the invention isclient-server architecture with one or more application servers 45 whichrun and manage the process. Actions taken by users on their clientcomputers are processed by the application server 45 which processesinformation, performs tasks, serves up client user screens on computingdevices, sends and retrieves information to and from databases orancillary computer processes, and distributes information according toone or more application server programs 45 to the various users 10, 15,20, 25, 30, 35, managing and making the entire process possible.

The terms used hereinafter, such as for example ‘application’,‘application server’, ‘computer program,’ ‘computer process,’ ‘computerapplication,’ etc., are used interchangeably and deemed for the purposesof this application and claims to mean one or more computer applicationsperforming the computer functions herein described unless otherwiseindicated.

As described herein, in various embodiments, one or more server(s),client computer(s), application computer(s) and/or other computer(s) canbe utilized to implement one or more aspect of the invention.Illustrative computers can include, e.g.: a central processing unit;memory (e.g., RAM, etc.); data storage (e.g., hard drives, etc.);input/output ports (e.g., parallel and/or serial ports, etc.); dataentry devices (e.g., key boards, etc.); etc. In addition, clientcomputers may contain, in some embodiments, browser software forinteracting with the server(s), such as, for example, using hypertexttransfer protocol (HTTP) to make requests of the server(s) via theInternet or the like.

The system may use one or more relational databases 50 with a variety ofstructures which may include data categories such as, for example:seller information, buyer information, buyer employment and financialinformation, property information, listing information, saleinformation, mortgage information, settlement and title information,etc.

While users may use any form of electrical computing device or generalpurpose computing machines or devices for clients to access and Interactwith the system 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35 which could include personalcomputes, network terminals, digital Internet cell phones, palm pilotsor telephone voice response or touch-tone technology, the descriptionherein describes the use of a common personal computer with a display, akeyboard and pointing device such as a mouse. Electronic computingdevices may also include any other suitable programmable electronicdevices consistent with the invention.

It is pointed out that the order of steps or activities, and whetherparticular tasks are performed manually or automatically, is flexibleand can be programmed to be varied to give the process and users as muchflexibility as possible. In addition, various steps may be modified,simplified, and one or more tasks may be combined to simplify andstreamline the over-all process. For example, while the description isof a real estate office, mortgage office and settlement office in theprocess, it is entirely possible to combine their functions into oneconsolidated set of screens and functions and have virtually the wholeprocess done by only one or two people in one office from one set ofscreens.

It is pointed out that although the detailed description describespreferred embodiments including one ‘real estate sales office’ in theprocess, in some instances there may be two or more such sale offices,for instance where there is a cooperating seller's agent and a buyer'sagent. In such circumstances, the process is substantially the same andthe resulting change in the process may be easily inferred by thereader.

While, in the preferred embodiments, the processes are ‘real world’processes designed for the way real estate is sold today, the processcould be modified for other environments, such as, e.g., for a‘self-help’ buyer or seller to use, or a ‘for sale by owner’ solutionwithout the help of a real estate agent or sales person, could be usedon a kiosk in a shopping mall or could be adapted to be used with a‘move consultant or ‘transaction coordinator,’ or equivalent.

It is also pointed out that certain of the drawings herein reflect the‘workflow’ of the system, rather than the actual system architecture. Inparticular, (See FIGS. 2-3 e) show the process results from the usersprospective, rather than the fact that all information, whether theresult of user input or processes performed, in most cases istransferred to and from the application server(s) 45 and databases 50,75.

There are separate graphical user interfaces (GUI) accessible on apersonal computer by each user with screens appropriate to theiractivities. The seller “virtual desktop” 10, (See FIG. 3 d) the “buyervirtual desktop” 15 (See FIG. 3 e), the “virtual real estate office” 20(See FIG. 3 a), the lender “virtual mortgage office” 30 (See FIG. 3 b)the settlement company “virtual settlement office” 35 (See FIG. 3 c) andservice providers virtual office or virtual desktop 25 allow each toenter, receive and view appropriate information and perform appropriatetasks associated with their roles in the transaction.

Any tasks and processes performed by any user manually, or by a computerprocess at any stage of the process immediately make possible 45 anyother real estate sale, mortgage loan, settlement or other activities,tasks, processes and creation of documents, either manually orautomatically. This avoids gaps and delays.

One aspect of the system that is of importance is that of uniformity andsimplification of the process. If one were to look at a number of realestate programs, mortgage origination programs and settlement programsone would see numerous different screen layouts with varying informationdisplayed, all of which would become confusing and daunting veryquickly. In researching this process, however, it was realized that muchof the information and how it is displayed is similar at each step ofthe way, and it is only at particular functions that unique screenfunctions and layouts are necessary. Therefore there are many screens,for example, which appear in the Work Area 450, 550, 650, Tab Tables460, 560, 660, which are in fact forms and subforms served up anddisplayed by the application server, such as ‘seller information’ (SeeFIG. 10), ‘property information’ (See FIG. 11), ‘buyer information andbuyer employment and financial information’ (See FIG. 12), ‘propertysearch’ (See FIG. 13), ‘sale summary information’ (See FIG. 14),‘mortgage search’ (See FIG. 16), ‘mortgage loan application’ (See FIG.27), loan underwriting (See FIG. 28), loan summary table (See FIG. 28a), and ‘ordering services’ (See FIGS. 19, 20, 23), which can bedisplayed with minor modifications of some content, for more than oneuser; and it is only those screens that are unique to a particular usersuch as the ‘mortgage approved loan’ table (See FIG. 28) for the lender,and the settlement order (See FIG. 30) and settlement statement entrytables (See FIG. 32) or escrows accounting (See FIG. 33) for thesettlement company that are different. This has greatly simplifiedunderstanding and designing the process and will greatly reduce the costand complexity of building and modifying and adding new features to thesystem from time to time.

Each virtual office will be one integrated computer program for eachuser from which they can receive, view, enter, change, save data,perform their particular functions in the transaction, create, save andsend all documents, order services from third-party service providers,track the transaction, and communicate with other participants in theparticular transaction. The “virtual office/desktop” technology willeliminate many of the current disadvantages of the Internet allowingusers to operate their entire office and perform literally 100's offunctions without having to navigate back-and-forth or “link” toconstantly-changing Web-pages.

The layout of each virtual office (See FIG. 4) and each customer, buyeror seller, virtual desktop (See FIG. 5), and the service providervirtual desktop or service provider virtual office (TransactionNavigator and Views not shown) (See FIG. 6) will include the following:

The Collaboration Navigator 410, 510, 610 allows a user to select andaccess a Address Book, Unified Messaging, Calendar, To Do and ‘InstantMessaging’ by clicking with a pointing device such as a mouse onappropriate item selected to be displayed in the Collaboration View 420,520, 620. The Collaboration View 420, 520, 620 allows a user to accessand ‘collaborate’ with others in the transaction. These include:‘Unified Messaging’ view which allows users to send and receive and viewe-mails 65, receive and view all documents created with the technology,and receive voice phone messages and facsimiles from a fax & voicemessaging server 60. The user can manually save them to the ‘FileDrawer’ tab (See FIG. 8) in the Work Area 450, 55, 650 for a particularuser for a particular transaction, or the program can save itemsautomatically.

The Address Book view allows user to keep and view customer and serviceprovider information such as addresses, phone numbers, e-mail addresses,etc. for customer and ‘service provider’ contact management. Informationin Address Book is integrated with Work Area 450, 550, 650 so thatinformation entered or actions taken in one, are reflected and displayedin the other, and visa-versa.

The Calendar View (See FIG. 7) automatically displays a calendar withappropriate information about transaction events and status, allowsusers to create and schedule events, meeting times, and ‘to do’ items asnecessary, appropriate or expedient for their tasks or functions. Theitems can be marked ‘private’ or ‘group’ and the ‘Group Calendar’ isdisplayed, for all others in a particular transaction to see the eventand status of that particular transaction from their respective VirtualDesktop or Virtual Office as necessary, appropriate or expedient fortheir tasks or functions. The Calendar is integrated with Work Area 450,550, 650 so that actions taken or information entered in one area arereflected and displayed in the other, and visa-versa.

The To Do View displays items that need to be completed in anyparticular transaction. To Do items can be created manually by users inthe To Do view, in the Work Area, or automatically by the applicationserver 45. The To Do View is integrated with Work Area 450, 550, 650 sothat actions taken or information entered in one are reflected anddisplayed in the other.

Instant Messaging & Application Sharing allows users to use ‘instantmessaging’ (‘chat’) including voice and audio, and application sharingto simultaneously collaborate on a particular screen or document such asthe sale contract documents 255 (See FIG. 15), Loan Application (Form1003) (See FIG. 27) or Settlement Statement (HUD-1) on a ‘real-time’basis with other parties in the transaction. For application sharing,the application server 45 allows two or more users to display a screen,enter and save information on a real time basis, thus eliminatingwaiting for and having to send information back and forth. Important‘chat’ sessions can be recorded and saved to the appropriate FileDrawers (See FIG. 8) for a permanent record.

The Transaction Navigator 430, 910, 2410, 2910 (See FIGS. 4, 9, 24, 29),which is only used in the virtual office configuration, automaticallydisplays, sorts and tracks stages of each transaction. As there aresignificant changes in the status, for example ‘new order,’ ‘pending,’‘completed,’ etc., the computer application automatically moves theparticular transaction into a different stage category. Users can viewtransactions by each status by selecting a particular status category inthe Transaction Navigator 430 which then displays summary information ofall transactions within that status category in the Transaction View435. Customers (i.e. buyer or seller) will not have this TransactionsNavigator in their Virtual Desktop and service providers will have it intheir Service Provider Virtual Office, but not in their Service ProviderVirtual Desktop.

The Transactions View 435, 920, 2420, 2920 (See FIGS. 4, 9, 24, 29),which is only used in the ‘virtual office’ configuration, automaticallydisplays summary information for each ‘transaction’ for example for areal estate sale, buyer, seller, property address, contract price,status of sale and displays individual tasks necessary to complete aparticular transaction, for example ‘signs’, ‘inspections,’ advertising;etc. and displays the status of each, for example ‘ordered,’ ‘past due,’‘completed,’ ‘approved,’ etc. The computer program allows user to sorttransactions by criteria by clicking on column heading. User can selecta particular transaction by clicking on that transaction in theTransaction View 435, 920, 2420, 2920 (See FIGS. 4, 9, 24, 29) and thetransaction details are then displayed in the Work Area 450 allowinguser to access detailed transaction information and to perform tasks forthat particular transaction. Customers (i.e. buyer or seller) will nothave this Transactions View in their Virtual Desktop and serviceproviders will have it in the Service Provider Virtual Office, but notin the Virtual Desktop.

The Work Area 450, 550, 650 (See FIGS. 4, 5, 6) allows users to accessparticular transaction details in the Work Area by selecting andclicking on the transaction in the Transaction View screen, if they haveone. The Work Area allows users to perform tasks, enter or view detailedinformation. Each Virtual Office Work Area will have Summary Information440 (See FIGS. 4, 4 a-c). In the Work Area Summary Information users cancreate documents. For example the real estate agent can create realestate sale contract documents 440, 255 (See FIG. 15), the lender cancreate loan documents, 470, and the settlement company can createsettlement, legal or title documents 485. The status can be manuallychanged 445, 460, 480, or automatically changed by the program uponoccurrence of certain actions performed anywhere in the computer programor by certain events occurring. To create documents in the Work Area, a‘Document Database’ 100, 120, 127 can be accessed, a form selected,automatically filled in with all information which already exists in thesystem, or manually entered, edited, printed and saved and sent toothers in the particular transaction, so they can view them in theirrespective Collaboration View 420, 520, 620 when they receive them or intheir respective ‘File Drawer’ (See FIG. 8).

Detailed information is entered into and viewed by users, and functionsare performed, in various Work Area Tab Tables 460, 560, 660 (See FIGS.8, 10-14, 16, 18-20, 23, 25-28 a, 30-33). These are accessible in the‘Work Area’ 450, 550, 650 and users can navigate from one table toanother by selecting a particular tab such as by ‘clicking’ with a‘mouse’ to view information in that particular table such as ‘OrderInformation’ (See FIG. 30), ‘Buyer Information’ (See FIG. 12), ‘SellerInformation’ (See FIG. 10), etc. to enter or change information, andperform various transaction tasks associated with their role in theprocess such as ordering services (See FIG. 19), accessing electronicdocuments saved in the ‘File Drawer’ (See FIG. 8), etc. Tab Tablescreens are dynamic forms which the application server 45 allows to bedisplayed by each client. Some tab tables are ‘dynamic,’ meaning asinformation is entered, or actions are performed, the layout andinformation presented changes automatically on the screen to allow theuser to proceed with the process more easily. To make the system as easyto develop and operate as possible, many basic lab tables' are used bymore than one user. Also the various tab tables can be varied, by addingor creating new ones, deleting, modifying the contents, or changingtheir order on screens. Various “tab tables” and the information theycontain or the functions they perform can be varied in numerous possibleways, and are described in more detail below.

When it is described that documents can be signed electronically itincludes, for example, any necessary electronic notary signatures,seals, etc., or other electronic authentication deemed acceptable byusers and required and allowed by appropriate laws. Similarly,electronic certifications or verifications may be any deemed acceptableby users and required and allowed by appropriate laws.

The computer program saves, either automatically or manually, allappropriate documentation including e-mails, faxes, and phone messages65 in one or more system databases 50 for a complete record of eachtransaction which can be viewed by users in an electronic File Drawer(See FIG. 8). User can save and access a document as necessary,appropriate or expedient, for their tasks or functions in the FileDrawer (See FIG. 8) by clicking on the ‘File Drawer’ tab 810, selectinga particular document, and ‘clicking on the document to open thedocument for review or editing, etc.

The ‘Office Management’ in the Transaction Navigator 430, 910, 2410,2910 (See FIGS. 4, 9, 24, 29) will allow a user to access and performgeneral ‘back office’ support features in the Work Area 450 such asintegrated billing accounting functions, including billing and paymentsfor transactions, management functions such as integrated summaryproduction and activity reports. The ‘Office Management’ will have otheroffice administration functions of a more general nature such as humanresources, etc.

System administration 57 can be done from one or more central regionalor individual office locations from one or more computing devices forperforming such function as, for example, adding and deleting customers,service providers, customer support and training, managing customers,billing functions, managing system modifications and upgrades, etc.Management and administration can be done as a service for customers orcustomers or their organizations such as for example a multiple listingservice provider, a Realtor association, etc. can operate and manage thesystem for them.

Virtual Real Estate Office

The Virtual Real Estate Office 20 (See FIGS. 1, 2, 3 a) will allow thereal estate agent and their staff (or home builder sales office) toperform all of their transaction activities from one comprehensivecomputer program; to receive, communicate and exchange information withbuyer 15 (See FIG. 3 e) and seller 10 (See FIG. 3 d), mortgage company30 (See FIG. 3 b), and settlement company 35 (See FIG. 3 c) request bidsfor and order and tract services 235 from service providers 25, such ashome inspections, advertising, insurance, settlement services, orutilities changes, send and receive information with the ‘multiplelisting service’ (MLS) 85 (or the home builder's subdivision inventorydatabase) 90, create listing agreements 220, a Sale Contract and othersale documents 440, 255 (See FIG. 15), assist the home buyer to searchfor a loan 265, be prequalified, preapproved, 270 apply for and beapproved for a loan, and secure documents 275, from a mortgage lender 30(See FIG. 3 b). Information entered, documents created, or functionsperformed by the real estate office personnel or by the applicationserver 45 are saved by the application server 45 into one or moredatabases 50, 75 and are made available for further functions to beperformed, and appropriate documents and information made available toother people participating or steps in the transaction, for example thebuyer, the seller the mortgage lender, the settlement company andservice providers, as necessary, appropriate or expedient, through anautomated or manual workflow process managed by the application server45.

Specifically, the Virtual Real Estate Office has the followingfunctionality:

The Virtual Real Estate Office 20 (See FIG. 3 a) can receive theprospective seller(s) information 210 (See FIG. 10), and propertyinformation 210 (See FIG. 11) (in the case of the real estate agent asopposed to a builder) entered by the Seller in the Seller VirtualDesktop 10, 210 (See FIGS. 3 d, 5) or alternatively, the real estateagent user can enter and save information manually and directly into theVirtual Real Estate Office 20, 210 (See FIGS. 3 a, 10, 11) for exampletaking information by phone or with the customer physically present.

The sale person or agent user can choose and create various marketingdocuments and materials, retrieving and opening forms 440 from a formsdatabase 50, 100 and create customer prospecting and marketing flyers,reports, or other marketing materials. The program automatically, oruser manually can search and retrieve ‘comparable sale information’ froma Comparable Sale Database 80 and input into the Comprehensive MarketAnalysis (CMA) report and marketing plan, according to criteria chosenby user, and save and send to Seller Virtual Desktop 10.

In the case of real estate agent, user can automatically enters seller,property and listing information into the listing agreement forms 220retrieved from the real estate document database 100 and user can sendcompleted listing to the Seller Virtual Desktop 10 and receive backlisting agreement electronically signed by seller 220 (See FIG. 3 d).

In the case of the real estate agent, property and listing informationcan be saved 50 internally and sent and entered into separate, internalor external, ‘Multiple Listing Service’ (MLS) database 75, 85, 450 (SeeFIGS. 1 a, 3 a, 4 a).

The Virtual Real Estate Office can receive information from a Digital‘Lockbox’ System 95 which tracks agent and prospective buyer activityentering the home for viewing; the system automatically sends electronicmessages activity report 231 when a house is entered for showing, and amessage to the buyer or buyer agent identified asking for comments,which when received is displayed in activity report 231 with buyer andagent comments in the Virtual Real Estate Office 20 (See FIG. 3 a) andin Seller Virtual Desktop screens 10 (See FIG. 3 d).

The Virtual Real Estate Office (real estate agent or builder) 20 (SeeFIG. 3 a) can receive information from Buyer Virtual Desktop 15 (SeeFIGS. 1, 3 e, 5) entered by the Buyer in the Work Area Tab Tables 560(See FIG. 5) about the buyer(s) personal information 240 (See FIG. 12)income, debts, assets for down payment for mortgage search,prequalification, preapproval and loan application 240 (See FIGS. 16,27) and criteria for home purchase such as, for example location, homestyle, number of bedrooms, number of baths, and price range desired 240(See FIG. 13); or alternatively, real estate agent user can enterinformation directly into Virtual Real Estate Office 20, 240 (See FIGS.3 a, 4, 12, 16, 13, 27) manually, for example taking information byphone or with buyer physically present.

The real estate agent (or builder) from the Virtual Real Estate Office20, 240 (See FIGS. 3 a, 4), or the Buyer from the Property tab in theBuyer Virtual Desktop 15, 240 (See FIGS. 5, 3 e) can enter home criteria240 and search (See FIG. 13) home database, either internal or external50, 75, for example from the MLS for the real estate agent 85 or theBuilder Home Inventory Database 90 with the criteria for home purchase1330 (See FIG. 13) and retrieve home information including pictures,video and maps matching buyer's purchase criteria as to, for exampleprice, style, number of bedrooms, number of baths, location, etc. 1350(See FIG. 13) and buyer can select one or more homes for more detailedinformation including, for example, maps, pictures, video and audio (SeeFIG. 11), viewing, and eventually selecting one on which to submit acontract offer 440, 255 (See FIG. 15). Searches and search results canbe saved 50 for use later by the Virtual Real Estate Office or by theBuyer Virtual Desktop.

User can select the appropriate forms 440 (See FIGS. 4, 4 a) from theReal Estate Document Database 100 to create sale contract documents 440,255 (See FIG. 15) and any addenda. The application server 45automatically enters all appropriate seller, buyer, property and listinginformation stored in the system databases 50 into sale contract forms100 or user can manually add or change information as desired ornecessary.

The sale contract documents 440, 255 (See FIG. 15) can be sent to theBuyer Virtual Desktop 15, 255 (See FIGS. 5, 3 e) for buyer review andmanual or electronic signature and which can be received back from buyerand saved. Sale contract documents 440, 255 (See FIG. 15) offer can thenbe sent to Seller Virtual Desktop 10, 255 (See FIG. 3 d) (or seller'sagent's Virtual Real Estate Office) and receive back accepted contract,or counteroffer from seller or seller's agent; or it can be printed orfaxed to seller or seller's agent. If a counter offer is made by theseller 255 (See FIG. 3 d), the process is repeatable by parties sendingthe contract of sale back and forth until a final agreement is reached;or alternatively the parties may access the sale contract documents 440,255 (See FIG. 15) simultaneously using application sharing and negotiatethe terms and conditions on a real-time basis.

At some point in the contract process, application server 45 can receivefrom the Buyer Virtual Desktop an electronic payment of the contract ofsale deposit 417 from an account designated by the buyer 419 and send toan account previously designated by the real estate office in theVirtual Real Estate Office 285, 280.

Real estate agent or builder, with buyer present or on the phone, canfill in mortgage loan information and criteria including, for examplethe buyer(s), income, debts, assets for down payment, and home purchasecriteria or contract of sale information 1630, 240 (See FIGS. 3 a, 16)and send 265 directly to one or more lenders' Virtual Mortgage Offices30, 265 (See FIG. 3 b) for manual quotes and underwriting, or to acentralized mortgage product and pricing database 75, 105 and automatedunderwriting system 110 for mortgage loan quotes, and computer program45 sends mortgage loan quotes results 265, 1660 (See FIGS. 16, 25 a)back to Virtual Real Estate Office 20, 265 and Buyer Virtual Desktop 15,265 as well as to respective lenders' Virtual Mortgage Office 30, 265(See FIGS. 3 b, 25-25 a). The users may elect to skip this step and itmay be combined with the loan application steps, below to streamline theprocess.

Buyer can receive and review mortgage loan quotes 1660 on the VirtualReal Estate Office 20, 265 (See FIG. 3 a) with the real estate agent, ifphysically present, or on the Buyer Virtual Desktop 15, 265 (See FIG. 3e) select a particular loan quote 1660 (See FIG. 16), and send a requestfor prequalification or preapproval to a lender 30, 270 (See FIG. 3 b).

Virtual Real Estate Office 20 (See FIG. 3 a) can receive and buyer ifphysically present accept a loan prequalification or preapproval letter270 (See FIG. 17) for a particular loan, together with mortgage loandocuments including, for example Good Faith Estimate, Truth in Lending,and other disclosures together with any conditions sent from lender 30,270 (See FIG. 3 b) and lender can receive buyer's acceptance of loanprequalification or preapproval letter or agreement (See FIG. 17) inVirtual Mortgage Office 30, 270 (See FIGS. 3 b, 26, 26 a).

The Virtual Real Estate Office 20 and the Buyer Virtual Desktop 15 candisplay buyer loan prequalification/preapproval summary information 270(See FIG. 26 a) in the Work Area Tab Tables.

The Virtual Real Estate Office 20 (See FIG. 3 a) can display one or moreloan application screens, such as, for example, Residential LoanApplication Form 1003 (See FIG. 27) containing all appropriate buyer,property, sale and loan information already entered 275 (See FIG. 3 a)and information can be entered or changed manually, signed with thebuyer present, and sent to the Virtual Mortgage Office 275 (See FIGS. 3b, 27). Alternatively, the buyer 15, lender 30, and real estate office20 can access the loan application simultaneously using applicationsharing and jointly enter or change information on a real-time basis.

The Virtual Real Estate Office 20 can display buyer loan applicationsummary information 275 (See FIGS. 3 a, FIGS. 26-26 a).

The Virtual Real Estate Office 20 and the Buyer Virtual Desktop 15receive final loan approval, including summary information 275 (SeeFIGS. 3 a, 28 a), and all loan documents 810 (See FIG. 8) including, forexample loan commitment, disclosures sent from mortgage lender's VirtualMortgage Office 30 (See FIGS. 3 b, 28, 28 a) and receive verification ofbuyer accepting loan commitment 275.

The Virtual Real Estate Office can display approved loan summaryinformation 275 (See FIGS. 3 a, 28 a).

Real estate agent or builder 20 can enter service providers informationinto system database to create list of providers for performing servicesfrom time-to-time, order services either manually or automatically 235(See FIGS. 3 a, 19-23) and track services 235, 920 (See FIGS. 3 a, 7, 9)from third-party service providers 25 such as, for example, homeinspections, signs, advertising, settlement services (See FIG. 30), orutilities changes; all appropriate information already in system isautomatically entered into appropriate fields; user can request andreceive quotes (bidding) from one or more different service providers(See FIGS. 20, 21) select a quote and order a service, receive aconfirmation from service provider 2220 (See FIGS. 22, 23) trackservices ordered 920 (See FIGS. 7, 9) and service providers can prepareelectronic reports and documents 2020, 2120 (See FIGS. 20, 21) and realestate agent can receive completed service provider reports 235 (SeeFIG. 3 a). All information entered into electronic service providerreports 2020, 2120 is automatically entered 45 into system databases 50,75 to be used later as necessary in the process.

Service providers can send electronic invoice for charges 2240 (FIG. 22)and the real estate office can send electronic payments (ACH) 285 tothird-party service providers for any services.

Virtual Real Estate Office 20 can receive settlement statement (HUD-1)372 and appropriate title and legal documents 368 sent from VirtualSettlement Office 35 (See FIG. 3 c) for review prior to settlement anduser can respond with questions, comments or changes back to VirtualSettlement Office 35.

Virtual Real Estate Office 20 can receive final signed settlementstatement (HUD-1) 372 and appropriate title and legal documents 368 sentfrom Virtual Settlement Office 35.

Virtual Real Estate Office 20 can receive commission payments 285, 378electronically from Virtual Settlement Office 35 escrow account 376 (SeeFIG. 3 c).

The computer program has a complete real estate office accounting system55, 280 (See FIG. 3 a) accessible from Transaction Navigator ‘OfficeManagement’ 430, 910 (See FIGS. 4, 9) viewable in the Work Area TabTables 450, 460, which allows user to perform complete accountingfunctions integrated with each sale transaction including for example,contract of sale deposit escrow, commission accounting, receipts,disbursements, reconciliation, statements and reports.

Virtual Real Estate Office accounting system allows electronic (ACH)receipts 285, such as electronic receipt of the contract of sale depositfrom the buyer 417 or receipt of broker sale commissions from settlement376, 378 (See FIG. 3 c), and electronic disbursements such as payingservice provider charges such as, for example advertising and signagefees 285 (See FIG. 3 a).

The Virtual Real Estate Office saves, either automatically or manually,all appropriate information 45, 50 and documentation including, forexample e-mails, faxes, phone messages, and any transaction documentscreated in the process which can be displayed in an electronic ‘FileDrawer’ (See FIG. 8) for a complete record of each transaction.

The Virtual Real Estate Office Transaction Navigator 430, 910 (See FIGS.4, 9) automatically tracks stage of each seller, buyer, or sale forexample ‘Prospect,’ ‘Listings,’ ‘Contracts,’ ‘Sold’ as activities arecompleted.

The Virtual Real Estate Office, Transaction View 435, 920 (See FIGS. 4,9) automatically displays summary information and organizes, tracks, andsummarizes status of activities for all transactions, for example‘signs’, ‘inspections,’ etc. and displays their status for example;‘ordered,’ ‘past due,’ ‘completed,’‘approved,’ etc.

Virtual Real Estate Office automatically displays appropriateinformation about transaction schedules, events, meetings, and status ofactivities in an electronic calendar 420 (See FIGS. 4, 7) or screens asnecessary, appropriate or expedient, for their tasks or functions.

Virtual Real Estate Office allows users to perform management reportingfunctions 430 including, for example creating summary, production,activity, analytical reports, consolidated sale transaction informationfor multiple sale persons or offices, production comparison reports etc.by assembling and consolidating 45 data 50 in various formats andisplaying in various screens 20 for review and use by managementpersonnel.

Seller Virtual Desktop

The Seller (Customer) Virtual Desktop 10 (See FIGS. 3 d, 5) allows theseller to enter, receive, and send information to, and share documentswith others in the sale process. The Seller Desktop contains theCollaboration Navigator 510 and Collaboration View 520 including:Address Book, Unified Messaging, Instant Messaging, and Group Calendarwhich displays meetings, activities and events for the transaction, andthe Work Area Tab Tables 550 (See FIG. 5) to input and reviewinformation, and perform tasks. Seller can select a ‘tab table’ in theWork Area by clicking on it 560, enter or view detailed information 210in that particular table such as ‘Seller Information’ (See FIG. 10),‘Property Information’ (See FIG. 11), ‘Sale Information’ (See FIG. 14),or order services (See FIG. 19), or view appropriate documents such as,for example, marketing, listing, sale contract, or settlement documents,etc. in the ‘File Drawer’ (See FIG. 8). Information entered, documentscreated, or functions performed by the seller, or by the applicationserver 45, are saved by the application server 45 into one or moredatabases 50, 75 and are made available for further functions to beperformed, and appropriate documents and information made available viaa network 40 to other people participating or steps in the transaction,for example the buyer, the real estate office personnel, the mortgagelender, the settlement company and service providers, as necessary,appropriate or expedient, through an automated or manual workflowprocess managed by the application server 45.

Specifically, the Seller (Customer) Virtual Desktop has the followingfunctionality:

Seller can enter seller(s) personal information (See FIG. 10) andproperty information 210 (See FIG. 11) and save in system 45, 50, 75;information is sent by the application server 45 to the Virtual RealEstate Office 20, and made available to others via a network 40, forexample, to the Virtual Mortgage Office 30, Service Providers 25, andVirtual Settlement Office 35 as necessary and appropriate.

Seller Virtual Desktop 10 can receive and seller can review marketingmaterials, information and documents including, for example, letters,brochures, flyers, and a comprehensive market analysis (CMA) report sentfrom Virtual Real Estate Office 20 (See FIGS. 1, 3 a).

Seller can receive listing agreement and documents 220 (See FIG. 3 d)sent by Virtual Real Estate Office 20, review and accept by electronicsignature, save, and send back to Virtual Real Estate Office, or print,sign and deliver physically.

Seller Virtual Desktop can receive information on agent and prospectivebuyer activity entering house for viewing 95 which is displayed inactivity report 231 sent from Virtual Real Estate Office 231 with buyerand agent comments.

Seller Virtual Desktop 10 (See FIG. 3 d) can receive sale contractdocuments 440, 255 (See FIG. 15) sent from Virtual Real Estate Office20; seller can accept by electronic signature, save and send back toVirtual Real Estate Office 255, or print and manually accept anddeliver, or make counter offer by making changes to sale contractdocuments, save and send back to Virtual Real Estate Office 255 (FIG. 3a), or print and manually accept and deliver counter offer; if a counteroffer is made by the seller, the process is repeatable by partiesnegotiating the terms and conditions back and forth until finalagreement; or the parties may access the sale contract documentssimultaneously using application sharing and negotiate the terms andconditions on a real-time basis, and save.

The seller can order 385 (See FIG. 19) and track services (See FIG. 7)from third-party service providers 25 such as, for example homeinspections, home repairs, utilities changes, moving services, etc.; allappropriate information already in system is automatically entered intoappropriate fields; user can request and receive quotes (bidding) fromone or more different service providers (See FIGS. 19, 20, 21), select aquote and order a service, receive a confirmation from a serviceprovider 2220 (See FIGS. 22, 23), track services ordered, for example,in a calendar (See FIG. 7) and receive completed service providerreports prepared by service provider 2120 (See FIG. 21). All informationentered by seller, or service providers into any electronic ‘serviceprovider reports’ is automatically entered 45 into system databases 50to be used later as necessary or appropriate in the process.

Service provider can send electronic invoice for charges 2240 and theseller can send electronic payments (ACH) 391 to third-party serviceproviders for any services.

The seller can receive settlement statement sent (HUD-1) 372 andappropriate legal and title documents 368 from Virtual Settlement Office35 (See FIG. 3 c) for review prior to settlement and respond withquestions, comments or changes back to Virtual Settlement Office 35 (SeeFIG. 3 c).

The seller can electronically sign settlement statement (HUD-1) 372 andappropriate legal and title documents 368 and send to settlement company35 (See FIG. 3 c) to conduct electronic online settlement.

Seller can receive final, signed settlement statement (HUD-1) 372 andappropriate title and legal documents 368 sent from Virtual SettlementOffice 35 (See FIG. 3 c) including electronic confirmation of settlementand all final, signed post closing and post recording documentsincluding for example, electronic certifications or verifications asnecessary, appropriate or expedient.

The seller can electronically receive sale proceeds 391 from VirtualSettlement Office 35, 378 (See FIG. 3 c) deposited directly into anaccount designated by seller 393 in the Seller Virtual Desktop.

Seller Virtual Desktop 10 (See FIG. 3 d) can save 45, 50, eitherautomatically or manually, all appropriate documentation, including forexample e-mails 65, faxes, phone messages 60, sale contract, mortgageloan and title, legal and settlement documents for a complete record ofeach transaction, and view in an electronic File Drawer (See FIG. 8).

Seller Virtual Desktop automatically displays appropriate informationabout transaction schedules, events, meetings, and status of activities,for example, in an electronic calendar (See FIG. 7) or screen asnecessary, appropriate or expedient for their tasks or functions.

Buyer Virtual Desktop

The Buyer (Borrower 16, (See FIGS. 1 b, 1 c, 2 a) for refinancing)Virtual Desktop 15 (See FIG. 3 e) allows the buyer to enter, receive,and send information to, and share documents with, others in the saleprocess (See FIGS. 1, 2, 3 a-e). The Buyer Desktop (See FIG. 5) containsthe Collaboration Navigator 510 and Collaboration View 520 including:Address Book, Unified Messaging Group, Instant Messaging & ApplicationSharing, and Group Calendar and the Work Area 550 and Tab Tables 560 toinput and review information, and perform functions. Buyer can select a‘tab table’ 560 in the Work Area by clicking on it, enter or viewdetailed information in that particular table such as ‘BuyerInformation’ and buyer employment and financial information, (See FIG.12), ‘Sale Information’ (See FIG. 14), (‘Property Information’ (See FIG.11) and existing mortgage financing for a refinancing 16) orderservices, or view documents such as the sale contract documents,mortgage documents or legal and title documents and settlementdocuments, etc. in the File Drawer (See FIG. 8). Information entered,documents created, or functions performed by the buyer, or by theapplication server 45, are saved by the application server 45 into oneor more databases 50, 75 and are made available for further functions tobe performed, and appropriate documents and information made availableto other people participating or steps in the transaction (See FIGS. 1,2), for example, the seller, the real estate office personnel, themortgage lender, the settlement company and service providers, asnecessary, appropriate or expedient, through an automated or manualworkflow process managed by the application server 45.

Specifically, the Buyer Virtual Desktop 15 (See FIG. 3 e) has thefollowing functionality:

The buyer can enter personal information 240 (See FIGS. 3 e, 12).

The buyer can enter criteria such as, for example, price, style, numberof bedrooms, number of baths, location, for home purchase 240, 1330 (SeeFIG. 3 e, 13), search 245 home database (MLS Database or the HomeBuilder Inventory Database) 75, 85, 90, and retrieve home information245, 1350 (See FIGS. 11, 13) including pictures, video and maps matchingbuyer's purchase criteria, and buyer can select one or more for viewing,and eventually one on which to submit a sale contract offer. Searchesand search results can be saved 50 for use later.

In the case of a refinancing, borrower 16 (See FIGS. 1 b, 1 c, 2 a) canalso enter property information (See FIG. 11) and existing mortgageinformation to be paid off with new financing.

The buyer can prepare sale contract documents in Buyer Virtual Desktop255, if for example buyer is a ‘self-help’ buyer, or receive salecontract documents 255 from Virtual Real Estate Office 20, 255 (See FIG.3 a), if there is a real estate sales agent, review and sign byelectronic signature and send back to Virtual Real Estate Office (SeeFIG. 3 a), or print, sign and deliver physically; buyer can receive backsale contract documents from either Virtual Seller Desktop 10 (See FIG.3 d) in the case of a ‘for sale by owner,’ or the Virtual Real EstateOffice 20, 255 signed by seller; if a counter offer is made by theseller, the process is repeatable by parties negotiating the terms andconditions back and forth until a final agreement; or alternatively theparties may access the contract of sale and addenda simultaneously usingapplication sharing and negotiate the terms and conditions on areal-time basis.

At some point in the contract process, the buyer can elect to send fromthe Buyer Virtual Desktop 15 (See FIG. 3 e) an electronic payment of thecontract of sale deposit 417 from an account designated 419 by the buyerto an escrow account previously designated in the Virtual Real EstateOffice 285, 280 (See FIG. 3 a).

The buyer 15 (Borrower 16 (See FIGS. 1 b, 1 c, 2 a) for refinancing) canenter information about the buyer(s), income, debts, assets for downpayment, 1630 (See FIG. 16), and home purchase criteria 1330, 240 (SeeFIG. 3 e) or sale contract documents (See FIG. 15) (Borrower 16 (SeeFIGS. 1 b, 1 c, 2 a) can enter property information (See FIG. 11) andexisting mortgage financing for refinancing) and send 265 (See FIG. 3 e)to one or more lenders' Virtual Mortgage Offices 265 (See FIGS. 3 b, 25)for a manual quote made by one or more lenders, or to a centralizedmortgage product and pricing database and automated underwriting system105, 110 (See FIG. 1 a) for mortgage loan quotes and application server45 sends loan quote results 1660 (See FIG. 16) back to Buyer VirtualDesktop 265 (See FIG. 3 e), to the Virtual Real Estate Office 265 (SeeFIG. 3 a), and to respective lenders' Virtual Mortgage Office 265 (SeeFIG. 3 b). The users may elect to skip this step and it may be combinedwith the loan application steps 275 below to streamline the process.

Buyer can review mortgage loan quotes on the Buyer Virtual Desktop 265,1660 (See FIGS. 3 e, 16) and buyer can select a particular loan quote,and send a request 270 (See FIG. 3 e) for prequalification orpreapproval back to a particular lender 270 (See FIG. 3 b).

Buyer can receive and accept a loan prequalification or preapprovalletter 270 (See FIGS. 17, 3 e) for a particular loan, together withother documents such as, for example, mortgage loan disclosuresincluding Good Faith Estimate, Truth in Lending, and other disclosures,from lender 270 (See FIG. 3 b); and lender receives back buyer'sacceptance of loan prequalification or preapproval letter (See FIG. 17)in Virtual Mortgage Office 270 (See FIGS. 3 b, 26, 26 a), andacknowledgement of receipt of any disclosure documents as necessary.

Buyer Virtual Desktop and Virtual Mortgage Office can display buyer loanprequalification/preapproval summary information 270 (See FIGS. 3 e,26-26 a).

Buyer Virtual Desktop can display one or more loan application screens,for example, Uniform Residential Loan Application Form 1003 orequivalent 275 (See FIGS. 3 e, 27) containing all appropriate buyer,property, sale and loan information already entered into system 50, 75;or appropriate information can be entered or changed manually by buyerand electronically sign and send to mortgage lender 275 (See FIG. 3 b),or by printing and physically signing and delivering or sending byfacsimile to the mortgage lender; or the buyer, lender and real estateoffice may access the loan application simultaneously using applicationsharing and jointly enter or change information on a real-time basis.

Buyer Virtual Desktop 15, 275 (See FIG. 3 e) can receive anyverification forms including, for example, Verification of Employment,Verification of Deposit, Verification of Loan, or information requiredas a condition of loan sent by lender from Virtual Mortgage Office,enter and verify information, and send back to lender Virtual MortgageOffice 30, 275 (See FIG. 3 b).

The buyer can send electronic payment 417 for, for example, anyapplication, credit report or appraisal fees, etc. to lender 365 (SeeFIG. 3 b) from Buyer Virtual Desktop 15 (See FIG. 3 e).

Buyer Virtual Desktop can display loan application summary information275 (See FIGS. 3 e, 26 a).

Buyer Virtual Desktop 15 can receive final loan approval, includingsummary information 275 (See FIG. 3 e, 28 a) and loan documents,including, for example loan commitment, disclosures and all appropriateloan documents sent from mortgage lender's Virtual Mortgage Office 30,275 (See FIG. 3 b). Buyer Virtual Desktop can display approved loansummary information (See FIG. 28 a).

The buyer can order 421 (See FIGS. 3 e, 19) and track services (See FIG.7) from third-party service providers 25 (See FIGS. 6, 19, 22, 23) suchas, for example, home inspections, home repairs, utilities changes,moving & storage services, etc.; all appropriate information already insystem is automatically entered into appropriate fields; user canrequest and receive quotes (bidding) 421, 2030 (See FIG. 20) from one ormore different service providers 25, 2130 (See FIG. 21) select a quote2030 and order a service, receive a confirmation 2340 (See FIG. 23) fromservice provider 2220 (See FIG. 22), track services ordered in acalendar (See FIG. 7), and receive completed service provider reports2120, 2210. All information entered by service provider, including, forexample, into electronic service provider reports is automatically 45entered into system databases 50, 75 to be used later as necessary inthe process.

Service provider can send electronic invoice 417, 2240 (See FIG. 22) forcharges and the buyer can send electronic payments 417 to third-partyservice providers for any services received.

The buyer 15 can receive the settlement statement (HUD-1) 372 andappropriate title and legal documents 368 sent from Virtual SettlementOffice 35 (See FIG. 3 c) by settlement company for review prior tosettlement and respond with questions, comments or changes back toVirtual Settlement Office.

The buyer can electronically sign settlement statement (HUD-1) 372 andappropriate legal and title documents 368 and send to settlement company35 (See FIG. 3 c) to conduct electronic online settlement.

The buyer can send funds, required on settlement statementelectronically 417 from a separate account 419 designated by buyer inthe Buyer Virtual Desktop to settlement company Virtual SettlementOffice 35, 378, 376 (See FIG. 3 c).

Buyer can receive final, signed settlement statement (HUD-1) 372 andappropriate title and legal documents 368 sent from Virtual SettlementOffice 35 (See FIG. 3 c) including electronic confirmation of settlementand all final, signed post closing and post recording documentsincluding for example, electronic certifications or verifications asnecessary, appropriate or expedient.

Buyer Virtual Desktop 15 can save 45, 50, either automatically ormanually, all appropriate documentation, including for example e-mails65, faxes, phone messages 60, sale contract, mortgage loan and title,legal and settlement documents for a complete record of eachtransaction, and view in an electronic File Drawer (See FIG. 8).

Buyer Virtual Desktop automatically displays appropriate informationabout transaction schedules, events, meetings, and status of activitiesin an electronic calendar 520, (See FIG. 7) or screen as necessary,appropriate or expedient, for their tasks or functions.

Service Provider Virtual Desktop and Virtual Office

The Service Provider Virtual Desktop 25 (See FIG. 6) or the ServiceProvider Virtual Office 25 (See FIG. 4) allows service providers suchas, for example, a home inspection company, appraiser, pest inspectioncompany, mortgage insurance company, title abstractor, or surveyor toreceive a request for a bid (See FIG. 21), a quote, or a service (SeeFIG. 22), respond accordingly, by providing a bid or quote 2130 (SeeFIG. 21), or confirming an order 680, 2220 (See FIG. 22) sent to theuser requesting the service 235, 335, 366, 385, 417. The computerprogram will allow a service provider to access electronic forms 670,2120, 2210 (See FIG. 6) from a database of forms 111 appropriate totheir functions, enter information and create service reports such as,for example, a pest inspection report, a mortgage insurance commitment,appraisal report or title search report (abstract of title), which canthen be sent manually or automatically upon completion to the userrequesting the service 235, 335, 366, 385, 417. Information entered,documents created, or functions performed by a service provider or bythe application server 45, are saved by the application server 45 intoone or more databases 50, 75 and are made available for furtherfunctions to be performed, and appropriate documents and informationmade available to other people participating or steps in thetransaction, for example the seller 10, the buyer 15, the real estateoffice personnel 20, the mortgage lender 30, the settlement company 35and other service providers 25, as necessary, appropriate or expedient,through an automated or manual workflow process managed by theapplication server 45.

Requests for services can be done manually by users, or programmed toautomatically occur when users perform certain tasks.

The Service Provider Virtual Desktop 25 (See FIG. 6) contains theCollaboration Navigator 610 and Collaboration View 620 for communicationwith others in the transaction, and the Calendar (See FIG. 7) whichdisplays information about appointments, or deadlines pertaining to theservice provided.

The Service Provider Virtual Desktop also includes Work Area 650 (SeeFIG. 6) and Tab Tables 660 (See FIGS. 21, 22). A service provider canselect a ‘tab table’ in the Work Area 660 (See FIGS. 21, 22), viewinformation in that particular table such as ‘Order Information’ (SeeFIGS. 21-22) which contains order and service information, or buyer (SeeFIG. 12), seller (See FIG. 10), property (See FIG. 11) and transactioninformation, and other Tab Tables to enter information and performfunctions necessary to respond to an order for the service requested,and send to the particular requesting user. The service provider candesignate a financial account and can send electronic invoice forcharges 2240, and the party requesting service can send electronicpayments 285, 365, 378, 391, 417 for any services performed.

Alternatively, the Service Provider can also use a Service ProviderVirtual Office configuration (See FIG. 4) containing the TransactionNavigator 430 and Transactions View 435, if, for example, the ServiceProvider is a frequent user of the system and wishes to have thesefeatures to keep track of more than one order. In some embodiments, allthe other features and functions of the Service Provider Virtual Desktopdescribed herein are available and can be performed from the ServiceProvider Virtual Office, and visa versa, In addition, a service providercan request services from additional third-party service providers, suchas, for example a home improvement contractor requesting services from alandscaper.

Specifically, the Service Provider Virtual Desktop (See FIG. 6) orService Provider Virtual Office (See FIG. 4) has the followingfunctionality: the service provider 25 can receive a request for a bid,request for a quote (See FIG. 21) or request for service (See FIG. 22)and respond by providing a bid 2130, a quote or confirm an order 680,2220, 2340 (See FIG. 22); the service provider can receive allinformation 460, 660 stored in or available from the system 45, 50, 75as necessary, appropriate or expedient, for their tasks or functions;the service provider can access electronic forms 111, 440, 670, 2120,2210 (See FIG. 6) appropriate to their functions such as, for example apest inspection report, title abstracting report, appraisal report 2120,2210, enter information and create service reports, electronically signif appropriate; the service provider can create billing or invoiceinformation 2240 for the service provided, the service provider can sendservice reports or confirmation of completed service and billinginformation, if any, to user requesting such service (See FIGS. 1, 1 b);the computer process can save all service information 45, 50, 75 to beused in the process as necessary, appropriate or expedient; the serviceprovider can receive payment for any charges for services electronicallyfrom separate account designated by user requesting service 285, 365,378, 391, 417 to a separate account designated by a service provider;the service provider can save 45, 50, either automatically or manually,all appropriate documentation, including for example e-mails 65, faxes,phone messages 60, sale contract, mortgage loan and title, legal andsettlement documents for a complete record of each transaction, and viewin an electronic File Drawer (See FIG. 8); can automatically displayappropriate information about transaction schedules, events, meetings,and status of activities is automatically displayed in an electroniccalendar (See FIG. 7) or screen as necessary, appropriate or expedient,for their tasks or functions.

Virtual Mortgage Office

The Virtual Mortgage Office 30 (See FIG. 3 b) will allow one or morepersons including, for example the mortgage loan officer, loanprocessor, loan underwriter and loan closer to perform all tasks andactivities associated with completion of the loan origination processfrom one comprehensive computer program; receive, communicate andexchange information with buyer 15 (See FIG. 3 e), real estate agent orbuilder 20 (See FIG. 3 a), receive requests for and send loan quotes265, pre-qualify or pre-approve borrower 270 receive and enter loanapplication information 275 order and tract verifications 340, order andtract services such as, for example, appraisals, mortgage insurance, andcredit reports 335, underwrite, process and approve the loan 300, eithermanually or using automated loan underwriting 110, and create 120, sendand save loan documents 275, 50 including disclosures. Informationentered, documents created, or functions performed by the mortgageoffice personnel, or by the application server 45, are saved by theapplication server 45 into one or more databases 50, 75 and are madeavailable for further functions to be performed, and appropriatedocuments and information made available to other people participatingor steps in the transaction, for example the buyer 15, the seller 10,the real estate office personnel 20, the settlement company 35 andservice providers 25, as necessary, appropriate or expedient, through anautomated or manual workflow process managed by the application server45.

Specifically, the Virtual Mortgage Office has the followingfunctionality:

The Virtual Mortgage Office 30 (See FIG. 3 b) receives through theapplication server(s) 45 preliminary information 265 (See FIG. 25)including, for example, the type of transaction, buyer(s) employment,and financial information, income, debts, assets for down payment 1630(See FIGS. 12, 16), home purchase criteria 1330 (See FIG. 13), salecontract information 255 (See FIGS. 14, 15), property information (SeeFIG. 11), type of loan product of interest entered into the Virtual RealEstate Office 265 (See FIG. 3 a) by the real estate agent, or into theBuyer Virtual Desktop 265, 1630 (See FIG. 3 e) by the buyer for loanquotes (See FIG. 25); or user can enter manually into screens, forexample taking information on phone call or with borrower physicallypresent. The users may elect to skip this step and it may be combinedwith the loan application steps, below, to streamline the process.

Mortgage personnel can manually enter and display qualifying loanproducts and pricing information 265 (See FIG. 25 a) meetingbuyer/borrower and transaction criteria, or alternatively information issent by application sever 45 to ancillary product and pricing database105 and ‘automated underwriting’ (AU) programs 110 retrieving anddisplaying qualifying loan products and pricing information, loan quotesmeeting buyer/borrower criteria and transaction (See FIG. 25 a). Theusers may elect to skip this step and it may be combined with the loanapplication steps, below, to streamline the process.

Loan quotes meeting criteria are sent back manually or by applicationserver 45 and displayed (See FIG. 16) in Virtual Mortgage Office 30, 265(See FIGS. 3 b, 25 a), the Buyer Virtual Desktop 15, 265 (See FIGS. 3 e,16) and Virtual Real Estate Office 20, 265 (FIGS. 3 a, 16) from whichbuyer can select a quote 1660 and send a prequalification or preapprovalrequest to the lender 270.

The Virtual Mortgage Office 30 receives from the application server 45the prequalification or pre-approval request 270 (See FIG. 3 b) sentfrom Buyer Virtual Desktop 15, 270 (See FIG. 3 e) or Virtual Real EstateOffice 20, 270, 1660 (See FIGS. 3 a, 16).

Personnel 30 can manually or the application server 45 can automaticallycreate, save and send loan prequalification or preapproval letter (SeeFIG. 17) to Buyer Virtual Desktop 15, 270 and Virtual Real Estate Office20, 270 including, for example, any Good Faith Estimate, Truth inLending, and other disclosures, and summary loan information isdisplayed (See FIG. 18) in the Virtual Mortgage Office (See FIG. 3 b),Buyer Virtual Desktop (See FIG. 3 e), and Virtual Real Estate Office(See FIG. 3 a).

Virtual Mortgage Office 30 (See FIG. 3 b) receives buyer/borrower'selectronically signed acceptance of loan prequalification or preapprovalletter or agreement and any other documents necessary 270 frombuyer/borrower either from the Buyer Virtual Desktop 15 or Virtual RealEstate Office 20.

Virtual Mortgage Office 30 can display prequalification or preapprovalsummary information (See FIGS. 26, 26 a).

Virtual Mortgage Office 30 (See FIG. 3 b) can display one or more loanapplication screens 275 (See FIG. 27) for example a Uniform ResidentialLoan Application Form 1003 or equivalent containing all appropriatebuyer, property, sale and loan information already entered into system,or user can enter and save information manually, for example takinginformation on phone call or with buyer present; or buyer and realestate agent may access loan application screens and enter or changeinformation directly from the Buyer Virtual Desktop 15, 275, (See FIGS.3 e, 27) and Virtual Real Estate Office 275 (See FIGS. 3 a, 27) or, thebuyer, lender and real estate office may access the loan applicationsimultaneously using application sharing and jointly enter or changeinformation on a real-time basis.

Virtual Mortgage Office can send 340 any request for verification forms120 required as a condition of loan to Buyer Virtual Desktop 15, 275 andreceive back information or documents completed and electronicallysigned by buyer/borrower.

Virtual Mortgage Office 30 can send requests for verification 340including, for example, Verification of Employment, Verification ofDeposit, Verification of Loan, etc. to appropriate third-partieselectronically, for example, by sending e-mail with directions to a URLto confirm information which third-parties, such as banks, lenders,creditors can access to review, change, add or verify information,electronically sign and return, and Virtual Mortgage Office 30 canreceive back electronically signed verification responses 340 (See FIG.3 b).

Virtual Mortgage Office 30 can receive electronic payment of anymortgage, credit report or appraisal fees 365 from buyer/borrower fromBuyer Virtual Desktop 15, 417 (See FIG. 3 e).

Virtual Mortgage Office 30, Buyer Virtual Desktop 15, and Virtual RealEstate Office 20 can display loan application summary information (SeeFIG. 28 a).

Virtual Mortgage Office 30 can order 335, (See FIG. 19) and track 2420(See FIGS. 24, 7) services from third-party service providers 25, eithermanually or automatically such as, for example, appraisal, mortgageinsurance, tax and flood certifications, credit information and scores,or settlement services, or receive information from ancillary databases112, 114, 115, 125, 130, 135, 140 (See FIG. 1 a) either directly 75 orthrough an automated underwriting system 110; all appropriateinformation already in system is automatically entered into appropriatefields in request forms; or user can request and receive quotes(bidding) from one or more different service providers 25 (See FIGS. 20,21), select a quote 2030 and order a service, receive a confirmationfrom service provider 2340 (See FIGS. 23), track services ordered 2420(See FIGS. 7, 24), and receive completed service provider reports anddocuments 335, 2210, 2120. All information entered into electronicService Provider Desktop or Virtual Office 25, (See FIGS. 21, 22), orreports 2120, 2210 or from ancillary databases or systems 75, 112, 114,115, 125, 130, 135 (See FIG. 1 a) is automatically entered byapplication server 45 into system databases 50 to be used later asnecessary in the process for the particular loan.

Service provider 25 can send electronic invoice 2240 for charges and thelender can receive and send electronic payments 365 to third-partyservice providers for any service charges.

The mortgage lender can manually underwrite the loan 275, 300 (See FIGS.3 b, 28), or application server 45 can send final loan applicationinformation including, for example type of transaction, buyer/borrower,sale, property, and type loan-product, and any credit, appraisal,mortgage insurance, etc. information to an automated underwritingprogram 110 (See FIGS. 1 a, 3 b), including credit reporting systems112, automated appraisal 114 and automated mortgage insuranceunderwriting and approval 115, and receive back final underwritingapproval (See FIG. 28) with any conditions (or rejection).

The program sends loan information package including, for example,transmittal, appraisal, loan application, credit report to third-partymortgage investor 345, including for example Freddie Mac or Fannie Maefor investor purchase commitment with conditions if loan is to be soldto investor or marketed on the secondary market.

Final underwriting review and approval of loan can be done manually 300or automatically 110 (See FIGS. 28, 28 a) and can be approved orrejected with conditions.

Final underwriting results and approval (or rejection) includingconditions are presented to lender in Virtual Mortgage Office 30, 275(See FIGS. 3 b, 28, 28 a).

Computer program displays summary loan information in the Buyer VirtualDesktop 15, 275 (See FIGS. 3 e, 28 a) and Virtual Real Estate Office 20,275 (See FIGS. 3 a, 28 a) and the Virtual Mortgage Office 30, 275 (SeeFIGS. 3 d, 28, 28 a).

Computer program 45 sends approved loan information to mortgage documentdatabase 120 (See FIG. 3 b) and prepares and sends, for example, loancommitment, instructions and loan documents including any necessary‘disclosures’ to the ‘Virtual Mortgage Office’ for review, additions orcorrections 275, if any, and saves for display (See FIG. 8) in FileDrawer.

Appropriate loan documents including, for example commitment, Good FaithEstimate, Truth in Lending, and other disclosures loan terms andconditions to are sent 275 either manually or automatically byapplication server 45-to all appropriate parties, including, BuyerVirtual Desktop 15 and ‘Virtual Real Estate Office’ 20 for review andacceptance by buyer/borrower 275 (See FIG. 3 e).

Virtual Mortgage Office 30 receives back any loan documents 275,including for example, any Good Faith Estimate, Truth in Lending, andother disclosures accepted and electronically signed by buyer from BuyerVirtual Desktop 15, 275 or Virtual Real Estate Office 20, 275.

Virtual Mortgage Office 30 can prepare appropriate loan documents 120including, for example commitment, disclosures, note, deed of trust ormortgage, loan terms and conditions, settlement instructions, includingelectronic signatures, are sent 275 either manually, or automatically byapplication server 45 to Virtual Settlement Office 371 (See FIG. 3 c)for settlement.

Virtual Mortgage Office 30 (See FIG. 3 b) can receive, for example,settlement statement (HUD-1) and appropriate title, legal and settlementdocuments sent from Virtual Settlement Office 368, 372 for review priorto settlement, and respond with questions, comments, approvals,electronic signatures, or changes back to Virtual Settlement Office 35(See FIG. 3 c).

Lender can send electronic payment of mortgage funds 365 to the VirtualSettlement Office 378, 376 for disbursement according to settlementinstructions.

The lender personnel 30 can electronically sign settlement statement(HUD-1) 372 and appropriate legal and title documents 368 and send tosettlement company 35 to conduct electronic online settlement.

Virtual Mortgage Office (See FIG. 3 b) can receive final, signedsettlement statement (HUD-1) 372 and appropriate title and legaldocuments 368 sent from Virtual Settlement Office 35, (See FIG. 3 c),including electronic confirmation of settlement and all final, signedpost closing and post recording documents including for example,electronic certifications or verifications as necessary, appropriate orexpedient.

Lender personnel 30 (See FIG. 3 b) or application 45 can automaticallyenter all appropriate information about the loan 50, including acomplete electronic ‘file’ of all documents into one or more mortgageloan servicing systems 122.

Virtual Mortgage Office 35 (See FIG. 3 b) can save 45, 50, eitherautomatically or manually, all appropriate documentation, including forexample e-mails 65, faxes 60, phone messages 60, sale contract, mortgageloan and title, legal and settlement documents for a complete record ofeach transaction, and view in an electronic File Drawer (See FIG. 8).

Virtual Mortgage Office Transaction Navigator 430, 2410 (See FIGS. 4,24) automatically tracks stages of each transaction, for example ‘LoanProspect,’ ‘Prequalified,’ ‘Preapproved,’ ‘Application,’ ‘Approved,’‘Settled,’ etc.

Virtual Mortgage Office Transaction View 435, 2420 (See FIGS. 4, 24)automatically tracks, organizes, and summarizes status of activities forall transactions, for example ‘appraisal,’ ‘credit score,’ etc. anddisplays the status for example ‘ordered,’ ‘past due,’ ‘received,’‘approved,’ etc.

Virtual Mortgage Office 30 (See FIG. 3 b) also automatically displaysappropriate information about transaction schedules, events, meetings,and status of activities in an electronic calendar (See FIG. 7) orscreen as necessary, appropriate or expedient for their tasks orfunctions.

Virtual Settlement Office

The Virtual Settlement Office 35 (See FIG. 3 c) will allow thesettlement company personnel to perform all their tasks and activitiesassociated with completion of the title and settlement process from onecomprehensive computer program; receive, communicate and exchange 45information with seller 10, buyer 15, real estate agent or builder 20,mortgage lender 30 and service providers 25 (See FIGS. 1, 2, 3 c) orderand tract services 366, 2920 such as surveys, title searches, and loanpayoff information and create and save settlement 372, title and legaldocuments 368 and receive and disburse settlement proceeds 378electronically. Information entered, documents created, or functionsperformed by the settlement office personnel, or by the applicationserver 45 or from ancillary databases and systems 75, are saved by theapplication server 45 into one or more databases 50, 75 and are madeavailable for further functions to be performed, and documents andinformation made available to other people participating or steps in thetransaction (See FIGS. 1, 2), including for example the seller, thebuyer, the real estate office personnel, the mortgage lender, andservice providers, as necessary, appropriate or expedient, through anautomated or manual workflow process managed by the application server45.

Specifically, the Virtual Settlement Office has the followingfunctionality:

The Virtual Settlement Office 35 (See FIG. 3 c) can automaticallyreceive 45 settlement orders (See FIGS. 3 c, 29, 30) includinginformation on the buyer (See FIG. 12), seller (See FIG. 10), property(See FIG. 11), sale information (See FIG. 14) including sale contractinformation and documents (See FIG. 15) and mortgage information anddocuments from the Seller Virtual Desktop, 10 Buyer Virtual Desktop, 15Virtual Real Estate Office 20 or Virtual Mortgage Office 30 via thenetwork 40, or user can enter information on screens manually, forexample taking information by phone.

The Virtual Settlement Office user 35 (See FIG. 3 c) can confirm orderelectronically (See FIG. 30).

The Virtual Settlement Office 35 (See FIG. 3 c) can order 366 (See FIG.19) and track 2920 (See FIGS. 29, 7) services from third-party serviceproviders 25, either manually or automatically such as, for exampletitle search (title abstract), real estate tax information, HOAdocuments, a loan payoff statement, and survey services, or request andreceive information from ancillary databases 75, 130, 135, 140; allappropriate information already in system is automatically entered intoappropriate fields; or user can request and receive quotes (bidding)from one or more different service providers 25 (See FIGS. 20, 21),select a quote 2030 and order a service, receive a confirmation fromservice provider 2340 (See FIG. 23), track services ordered 2920 (SeeFIGS. 7, 29), and receive completed electronic service provider reports2120, 2210. All information entered into electronic service providerreports 2120, 2210 is automatically entered by application server 45into system databases 50, 75 to be used later as necessary, appropriateor expedient in the process.

Service provider can send electronic invoice 2240 for charges and thesettlement company can send electronic payments 378 to third-partyservice providers for any services.

Virtual Settlement Office 35 (See FIG. 3 c) can receive settlementinstructions 371 and all mortgage loan documents from the lender VirtualMortgage Office 30 as necessary, appropriate or expedient.

Virtual Settlement Office 35 can receive 378 (See FIG. 33) mortgageproceeds from the lender 30 365 (See FIG. 3 b).

Computer program application server 45 can access ancillary databases 75for land title 140 real estate tax information 130 and transfer taxesand recording charge information 135 and automatically enterinformation, for example real estate tax prorations, recording andtransfer charges, etc. into for example the settlement statement(HUD-1), including performing all usual calculations and prorationsnormally performed in preparing the settlement statement, and allsettlement documents 372 (See FIG. 32), and other title and legaldocuments, such as, for example title report, title commitment and titlepolicy (See FIG. 31), affidavits, deeds, recording forms, etc. 368 asnecessary, appropriate or expedient or user can enter, change or addinformation manually.

The computer program 45 enters all appropriate information 50 on, forexample, the buyer, seller, property, sale, mortgage information, titleinformation, and information ordered and received from servicesproviders 366 such as, for example, pay-off amounts, survey charges,title or abstract charges, automatically into, for example, all legaland title documents and other closing documents 368 and into thesettlement statement (HUD-1) 372, including performing all usualcalculations and prorations normally performed in preparing thesettlement statement (See FIG. 32), and other settlement documents, 372(See FIG. 32) as necessary, appropriate or expedient or user can enter,change or add information manually.

The computer program 45 causes the settlement statement (HUD-1) andother settlement documents 372 (See FIG. 32) to exchange informationbetween an escrow accounting system 376 (See FIGS. 3 c, 33, 34) allowinguser to perform complete escrow and accounting functions 376 including,for example, electronic receipts, disbursements, reconciliation,statements and reports 378 (See FIG. 34) as necessary, appropriate orexpedient.

Virtual Settlement Office user 35 (See FIG. 3 c) can through theapplication server 45 send settlement statement (HUD-1) and settlementdocuments 372 and all appropriate title and legal documents such as, forexample, the title insurance binder, title report, commitment or policy368 to the Seller Virtual Desktop 10 Buyer Virtual Desktop 15 VirtualReal Estate Office 20 and Virtual Mortgage Office 30 for review andapproval by respective parties prior to settlement.

Virtual Settlement Office 35 (See FIG. 3 c) can conduct on-linesettlement through application server 45 with for example one or more ofa buyer 15, seller 10, lender 30 or others with, for example, electronicsignatures of all settlement, title and legal documents including forexample using real-time application sharing as necessary, appropriate orexpedient.

The computer program allows electronic receipts, such as for examplereceipt of mortgage funds from the lender 365 and buyer 417 proceeds 378(See FIGS. 3 b, 33), and electronic disbursements such as, for exampleservice provider charges, disbursing seller proceeds, real estate brokerfees, real estate taxes, governmental recording and transfer charges,real estate taxes, water charges, utility charges and loan payoffs tothird-party lenders 378 (See FIGS. 3 c, 33, 34).

Virtual Settlement Office 35 (See FIG. 3 c) can receive electronicallyany third-party documents including, for example third-party loan payoffdocuments, certificate of satisfaction, appropriately marked as paid andsatisfied in full, including electronic signatures, and all requisitedocuments for releasing any third-party loan liens of recordelectronically.

Virtual Settlement Office 35, (See FIG. 3 c) can electronically send alldocuments, including for example deed, certificate of satisfaction,affidavits, governmental recording forms to, for example, appropriatepublic land record, court or other databases or systems for electronicrecording and releasing of documents in public records 75, 140, 382 (SeeFIGS. 35, 3 c) as necessary, appropriate or expedient, and receive backelectronic certifications or verifications of recording and releasing ofdocuments from the appropriate governmental departments or agencies.

Virtual Settlement Office 35 (See FIG. 3 c) can send electronicallyconfirmation of settlement and all final, signed post closing and postrecording documents to appropriate parties including, for example buyer,seller, lender, or third-party payoff lenders (See FIG. 36) includingfor example, electronic certifications or verifications as necessary,appropriate or expedient.

Virtual Settlement Office 35 (See FIG. 3 c) can save 45, 50, eitherautomatically or manually, all appropriate documentation, includingtitle documents, HUD-1, e-mails 65, faxes, phone messages 60, salecontract documents 255 and loan documents 371 for a complete record ofeach transaction, and view in an electronic File Drawer (See FIG. 8) asnecessary, appropriate or expedient.

Virtual Settlement Office 35 (See FIG. 3 c) Transaction Navigator 430,2910 (See FIGS. 4, 29) automatically tracks stage of each transaction,for example New Order, Scheduled, Settled, etc.

Virtual Settlement Office 35 (See FIG. 3 c) Transaction View 435, 2920(See FIGS. 4, 29) automatically tracks, organizes, and summarizes statusof for example, tasks and activities for all transactions, for exampleAbstract, Survey, HOA Documents, etc. and displays the status forexample ordered, received, approved, past due, etc.

Virtual Settlement Office 35 (See FIG. 3 c) also automatically displaysappropriate information about transaction schedules, events, meetings,and status of activities in an electronic calendar (See FIG. 7) orscreens as necessary, appropriate or expedient.

Alternative Embodiments Description

Combining Preferred Embodiments with Extrinsic Technology

While the preferred embodiments, as described above, preferably includesone or more common applications 45 and databases 50, 75, otherembodiments can include a system which operates in combination, and isintegrated with one or more extrinsic real estate, mortgage, settlementand other programs 59 (See FIG. 1 d) whereby processing information andperforming of functions may be performed by one or more of theapplication server 45 and one or more extrinsic real estate, mortgage,settlement and other programs 59 (See FIG. 1 d) and users may view,enter, receive, manipulate information and perform functions in one ormore of the application and one or more extrinsic real estate, mortgage,settlement and other programs 59 (See FIG. 1 d) to perform the overallprocess described above.

Combining, Simplifying or Modifying Processes

One of the prime advantages of a comprehensive technology, such as,e.g., may be afforded by various embodiments herein, is the manypossibilities that arise for simplifying, streamlining the process, andcombining one or more functions. This complicated processes can besimplified, streamlined and made more user friendly by combining,eliminating one or more functions or steps, or presenting information orallowing functions to be performed in a more understandable andefficient manner.

While there are many such possibilities, one example is if buyer isprequalified, preapproved 270 or approved 275, combining the buyersearch for home function 240, 245 1330, 1350 (See FIGS. 3 e, 13) withmortgage prequalification, preapprovel 270 (See FIG. 3 e), or approvedloan 275 (See FIG. 3 e) summary information, such that, for example, thesystem can immediately display and buyer or agent can immediately view1360 (See FIG. 13 a) financial information including, for example, downpayment, settlement costs 372 and monthly payments (PITI), includingshowing a Good Faith Estimate 1360 (See FIG. 13 a), and this financialinformation can include not only PITI but also other costs of ownership1360 (See FIG. 13 a), such as, for example, HOA dues and utility costsobtained from service providers, utility provider systems 97 or enteredby the seller for a particular property (See FIG. 11). This could alsoallow the user to change financing products or assumptions 240, 245, 265(See FIGS. 3 e, 16) in real time ‘on the fly’ for a particular property.

An advantage of this embodiment would be in allowing the buyer to see amore complete picture and the ramifications of selecting a particularproperty and type of financing prior to signing a binding contract 255and then finding out later there are surprises. This can be ofparticular importance and value when you consider that purchasing a homeis the largest single financial decision for most people and familiesand particularly so for lower or moderate income families with limitedsophistication.

Another example of combining functions would be to display andincorporate appropriate loan summary information, such as the loanamount and terms (See FIGS. 26 a, 28 a) automatically in the salecontract documents 255, 1510 (See FIG. 15) which terms require the buyerto obtain certain financing as a condition of the sale, or includingactual settlement costs 372, 130, 135 and who will pay them directly inthe contract of sale documents 1520 (See FIG. 15) or as an exhibit,including the total amount of cash the buyer will need and how much theseller will actually receive at settlement thus eliminating surprisesand uncertainty for the parties.

Yet another modification may include in some markets some of theactivities and functions of the real estate agent 20 (See FIG. 3 a) suchas, for example, preparing the sale contract documents 255 (See FIG. 15)and receiving and holding the escrow deposit from the buyer 285 beingperformed, for example, by an attorney who will also perform thefunctions of the settlement company 35 (See FIG. 3 c) in closing orsettling the sale that is described in the preferred embodiments asbeing done by the settlement company.

Another example of combining functions or streamlining the process wouldbe to combine one or more virtual offices or desktops. For example,since the process can be so highly automated with automated loanunderwriting, documents, etc. it is possible to combine the Virtual RealEstate Office 20 (See FIG. 3 a) and the Virtual Mortgage Office 30 (SeeFIG. 3 b) into one, and consolidate the screens, and have an officeassistant perform the mortgage process for a real estate agent totallyeliminating the loan officer in the process.

Yet another example of modifying the process is a ‘self-help’ system fora buyer or seller to use, for example, a ‘for sale by owner’ FSBOsolution, without the help of a real estate agent or sales person in thesale process. Such a system would eliminate the Virtual Real EstateOffice 20 (See FIG. 3 a) and include certain functions in the Seller andBuyer Virtual Desktops 10, 15 such as, for example, entering propertyinformation into a database 210, 85 searching the home database 245,creating and negotiating a contract 255 (See FIG. 15) directly betweenbuyer and seller, ordering all services 385, 421 including those whichthe agent might order 235, etc. The buyer 15 could also perform anentirely automated loan process without a Virtual Mortgage Office 30directly with an automated loan application, verification andunderwriting process 105, 110.

Still other modifications could be used on a kiosk in a public location,for example in a shopping mall, or could be adapted to be used with a‘move consultant or ‘transaction coordinator,’ or equivalent, to helptrack the sale, order services, notify parties of deadlines, etc. Such‘move consultant or ‘transaction coordinator’ would have features forordering services, tracking.

Commercial Real Estate

While the preferred embodiment as described the home sale, mortgage andsettlement process, the process can be also used, with any modificationsnecessary, for the commercial real estate market including, for example,the buying and selling of commercial buildings, apartment buildings andland.

Other Markets

The system design, the workflow, (See FIGS. 1, 1 a) virtual office (SeeFIG. 4) and virtual desktop (See FIGS. 5, 6) can be adapted for use inother markets or industries. Some other markets or industries caninclude, for example, international trade and shipping. The seller,buyer, real estate agent, mortgage lender, settlement and serviceprovider functions, activities, and documents could be changed toprovide functions, activities, and documents, for example, for themanufacturer, shipping agent, shipping company, customs agents, bankfinancing, insurance and bonding, warehousing, etc. all of whom are indiverse locations worldwide.

CONCLUSION, RAMIFICATIONS, AND SCOPE OF SOME EMBODIMENTS OF THEINVENTION

Unobviousness and Unexpected Results not Suggested by BackgroundReferences

There has been a long-felt but unsolved need to make the real estatesale, mortgage and settlement process more efficient. However, there hasbeen nothing but a series of failures by others who have tried goingabout it with improperly designed or incomplete solutions. Some havetried by automating only portions of the entire process. That would belike designing a trip from New York to Los Angeles; first you take atrain to Pittsburg, then you switch to a bus to get to Chicago, then yourent a car to Denver and finally take a plane to Los Angeles. Thisleaves gaps in the process and is complicated, expensive and results inless functionality and value for users.

Still others have tried to take what they perceived to be an easyshortcut approach of connecting together existing real estate sale,mortgage and settlement programs, still leaving users with their oldoutdated technologies, with different functions and structures, toperform their activities in the transaction. This approach is likepatching together parts of 5 or 10 old cars and hoping the result willbe a new car that runs better. It too just hasn't worked. This approachis not efficient, and leaves gaps in the process, is complicated,expensive and results in less functionality for users.

Not one of the foregoing approaches has met with commercial successdespite pouring literally tens of millions into their expensivesolutions, and many have gone out of business.

The correct solutions, identified in this patent application, have beenunobvious and have escaped others for years.

The methods and processes described herein, however, can, e.g.,eliminate and solve the unrecognized problems of, inter alia,complexity, cost and relative lack of functionality which others haveencountered.

The preferred embodiments, among other things: 1. integrates the entireprocess as one single, complete process, from A to Z, and 2.incorporates functions of the parties performed, the buyer, seller, realestate agent, lender, settlement company, and service providers into theprocess. Accordingly, the preferred embodiments include a system from Ato Z and a process from the ‘ground up’ not just connecting parties'existing programs together, but taking into account what functions eachparticipant performs in the process and building those functions intothe system, for a basic, complete design. Thus, although others did notrecognize it, this approach provides a simpler system which turns out tobe less costly to build, maintain and upgrade, have more functionality,and still provide a much more efficient process.

Objects and Advantages

In some preferred embodiments, objectives and advantages achieved ofsuch a comprehensive computer system for the entire home sale, mortgageorigination and settlement process which should be evident from theforgoing descriptions can include one or more of the following: 1. itreduces work by all parties allowing the process to be highly automated,eliminating and reducing work currently being performed manually; 2. itreduces redundant and repetitive tasks of manually entering the sameinformation numerous times in different computer programs, soinformation can be entered once for the entire transaction, not justportions of the transaction; 3. it reduces work, time, cost and chancesof error associated with having to manually rehandle informationnumerous times, first having the real estate agent reenter informationto perform tasks or transfer to more than one program, having themortgage company reenter information to perform tasks or transfer toother programs, and then having the settlement personnel have to onceagain reenter or transfer information to other programs; 4. it allowstransaction information to be instantly to immediately performadditional tasks anywhere in the process; 5. it allows transactioninformation and status information to be instantly available to allparties as appropriate, thus reducing confusion, delays and uncertaintyand chances of errors in the process; 6. it reduces the cost ofcompleting a transaction; 7. it reduces the number of personnelnecessary to complete a transaction; 8. it reduces or even eliminateswaiting time and reduces the overall time required to complete atransaction; 9. it provides greater reliability can be built into theprocess; 10. it assures that important sale and mortgage disclosureinformation and documents required by law be given to the seller or thebuyer, or the refinancing home owner, on a timely basis; 11. it greatlyreduces the cost, complexity, unreliability, and design limitations oftrying to connect together, or ‘integrate’ different computer systems,one for the real estate agent, another for the mortgage company, andanother for the settlement company, etc, in an effort to perform thisprocess; 12. it results in a system with greater and more functionalfeatures for users; 13. it provides a more highly automated systemwithout gaps in the process; in other words, for example, the instantthe loan officer does something to approve the loan, the documents canbe automatically prepared and sent to the settlement company and theborrower in seconds; 14. it is easier and cheaper to change or modify,add features, or upgrade the system from time to time; this is importantwith ever-changing technology and constantly changing market conditions;15. such a comprehensively designed system is more reliable and lesslikely to malfunction or ‘crash;’ 16. it is less costly to build andmaintain; and/or 17. the process can be simplified, streamlined and mademore user friendly by combining; eliminating one or more functions orsteps, or presenting information or allowing functions to be performedin a more understandable and efficient way.

BROAD SCOPE OF THE INVENTION

While illustrative embodiments of the invention have been describedherein, the present invention is not limited to the various preferredembodiments described herein, but includes any and all embodimentshaving modifications, omissions, combinations (e.g., of aspects acrossvarious embodiments), adaptations and/or alterations as would beappreciated by those in the art based on the present disclosure. Thelimitations in the claims are to be interpreted broadly based on thelanguage employed in the claims and not limited to examples described inthe present specification or during the prosecution of the application,which examples are to be construed as non-exclusive. For example, in thepresent disclosure, the term “preferably” is non-exclusive and means“preferably, but not limited to.” Means-plus-function orstep-plus-function limitations will only be employed where for aspecific claim limitation all of the following conditions are present inthat limitation: a) “means for” or “step for” is expressly recited; b) acorresponding function is expressly recited; and c) structure, materialor acts that support that structure are not recited. In addition, inthis disclosure, the terminology “invention” is intended to encompassnumerous independent inventive aspects. References to the “invention” inthis disclosure can refer to one or more of the various aspects of theinvention. The use of the language “invention” or “present invention”should not be in any way construed as limiting the broad reach of theclaims and/or in any way limiting the scope of the claims and/or allaspects of the invention.

I claim:
 1. A computer implemented method comprising the steps of:maintaining a server computing processor, in communication with a realestate information system over a computing network, capable of executingprogramming instructions including: receiving from a real estate buyercomputing device comprising a computing processor able to at leastreceive, display and send information, in communication with said realestate information system over said computing network, a first requestfor information comprising a request for real estate informationcomprising at least one time a real estate pricing criteria andreturning to said real estate buyer computing device: a real estateinformation including real estate pricing information matching said realestate pricing criteria, retrieved in real time or near real time from asource of real estate information including real estate pricinginformation for sale obtained from a plurality of real estate sellers;and a loan information including loan pricing information generated atleast in part in real time or near real time by a second computingprocessor from: a source of loan information including loan pricinginformation comprising at least one of: loan information which aplurality of lenders offer to make loans, and a plurality of loan typesoffered by a lender; and at least one said matching real estateinformation including real estate pricing information; said secondcomputing processor and said sources of information being incommunication with said information system over said computing network;wherein at least a portion of said matching real estate informationincluding real estate pricing information and at least a portion of saidgenerated loan information including loan pricing information areavailable to said real estate buyer computing device for at leastdisplay in real time or near real time.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein said first request for information includes a request for loaninformation including a request for loan pricing information comprising,and said one or more generated loan information including loan pricinginformation is generated at least in part in real time or near real timeby said second computing processor at least in part from, one or moreof: a selection of said matching real estate information including realestate pricing information, a loan type criteria, and a real estatebuyer information comprising one or more: down payment information,income information, debt information, employment information, and aninformation at least sufficient to determine a credit score or thecredit worthiness of said real estate buyer.
 3. The method of claim 1,wherein said generated loan information including loan pricinginformation comprises one or more: a loan amount information, a loaninterest rate information, a periodic loan payment information, amortgage insurance premium payment information, an annual percentagerate information, and a loan points information.
 4. The method of claim1, wherein said generated loan information including loan pricinginformation comprises one or more: good faith estimate andtruth-in-lending information.
 5. The method of claim 2, wherein saidrequest for loan information is selected from the group comprising: arequest for a loan quote, prequalification, preapproval and approvalinformation, and a loan application information; and wherein saidgenerated loan information including loan pricing information isselected from the group comprising: a loan quote, prequalification,preapproval and approval information.
 6. The method of claim 1 whereinsaid lenders or lender is selected from the group: a loan finder, loanbroker, direct lender, loan correspondent, wholesale lender, and loaninvestor.
 7. The method of claim 1, including returning one or moreinformation to buy or own real estate for use or display together atleast one time in real time or near real time by said real estate buyercomputing device with one or more; said matching real estate informationincluding real estate pricing information and said generated loaninformation including loan pricing information.
 8. The method of claim7, wherein said information to buy or own real estate comprises one ormore: an information to provide a service, provide a settlement service,and transfer title to real estate; real estate tax information, a hazardinsurance information, hazard insurance premium payment information,homeowners association payment information, and a utility paymentinformation; a bid, quote, price and cost information; a lowest bid,quote and price information; information for a real estate agent, realestate broker service, or a service normally performed by a real estateagent or broker, and an information upon which a service provider isready, willing and able to provide a service.
 9. The method of claim 2,wherein said generated loan information including loan pricinginformation is generated by said second computing processor from one ormore said information to buy or own real estate.
 10. The method of claim1 wherein, said generated loan information including loan pricinginformation is generated by said second computing processor executing aloan underwriting programming instruction.
 11. The method of claim 1,including said generated loan information including loan pricinginformation being upon which at least one said lender is willing to makea loan on: all said real estate buyer information, at least one saidmatching real estate information including real estate pricinginformation, and said one or more information to buy or own real estate.12. A computer implemented method for providing information to a realestate information system comprising the steps of: maintaining a firstcomputing processor in communication with said real estate informationsystem via a computing network; sending to said real estate informationsystem including a server computing processor in communication with thecomputing network one or more: real estate information including realestate pricing information, offered for sale from at least one seller ofa plurality real estate sellers; loan information including loan pricinginformation comprising at least one of: loan information offered by atleast one lender of a plurality of lenders, a loan type from a pluralityof loan types offered by a lender, or both; and, an information to buyor own real estate from amongst a plurality of information to buy or ownreal estate; wherein said server computing processor: receives a firstrequest for information comprising a request for real estate informationincluding a desired real estate price or price range from a real estatebuyer computing device processor in communication with the computingnetwork, and returns at least to said real estate buyer computing deviceprocessor in real time or near real time: (1) at least one said offeredreal estate information including real estate pricing informationmatching said desired real estate price or price range; (2) at least onesaid loan information including loan pricing information generated inreal time or near real time from said matching real estate informationincluding real estate pricing information and said offered loaninformation; and (3) at least one said information to buy or own realestate; which are available to be at least displayed together on saidreal estate buyer computing device.
 13. The method of claim 12, whereinsaid first request comprises, and said generated loan informationincluding loan pricing information is generated from, a request for loaninformation comprising one or more: said desired real estate price orprice range or said matching real estate information including realestate pricing information, including at least one time a selection ofsaid matching real estate information; and a real estate buyerinformation comprising one or more: said real estate buyer down paymentinformation, income information, debt information, employmentinformation, and an information sufficient to identify said real estatebuyer to or determine the credit worthiness of said real estate buyer.14. The method of claim 12, wherein said request for loan informationincludes at least one of: a request for a loan quote, prequalification,preapproval and approval information, and a loan application.
 15. Themethod of claim 12, wherein said generated loan information includingloan pricing information comprises one or more: a loan amount, aninterest rate, a periodic loan payment, an annual percentage rate, and aloan discount.
 16. The method of claim 12, wherein said generated loaninformation including loan pricing information comprises one or more:Good Faith Estimate information and Truth-in-Lending information. 17.The method of claim 12, wherein said lender or plurality of lenderscomprise at least one of: a loan finder, loan broker, direct lender,loan correspondent, and wholesale lender.
 18. The method of claim 12,wherein said generated loan information including loan pricinginformation is generated in real time or near real time from said atleast one returned information to buy or own real estate comprising oneor more: information to provide a service, provide a settlement service,and transfer title to real estate; real estate tax information, a hazardinsurance information, hazard insurance premium payment information,homeowners association payment information, and a utility paymentinformation; a bid, quote, price and cost information; a lowest bid,quote price and cost information; information for a real estate agent,real estate broker service, or a service normally performed by a realestate agent or broker, and an information which enables a serviceprovider to provide a service.
 19. The method of claim 12, wherein saidgenerated loan information including loan pricing information isgenerated at least in part by a loan-information-generating computingprocessor, in communication with said real estate information systemover the network, executing a programming instruction, including atleast one calculation, including at least one loan underwritinginstruction on: said first request, said matching real estateinformation including real estate pricing information, and said returnedinformation to buy or own real estate.
 20. The method of claim 13further including: sending said information in response to receiving arequest for information from said information system including saidfirst request for information and a second request for information; saidsecond request for information based on or including a selection by saidreal estate buyer off at least one of: said selected matching realestate information including real estate pricing information, saidgenerated loan information including loan pricing information, and saidreturned information to buy or own real estate.
 21. A computer systemfor providing real estate information, the system comprising: a firstcomputing processor in communication with an information system over acomputing network; a computer-readable medium coupled to the firstcomputing processor; the computer-readable medium storing a firstplurality of instructions, which, when executed, cause the firstcomputing processor to provide a real estate transaction process; thefirst plurality of instructions comprising: instructions that cause thefirst computing processor to receive a request for information from areal estate buyer computing device in communication with said computingnetwork; said real estate buyer computing device comprising a computingdevice processor able to at least one of: display and send information;said request comprising a request for real estate information comprisingat least one time a desired real estate price or a desired price range;instructions that cause the first computing processor to return, atleast one time in real time or near real time: a real estate informationincluding a real estate pricing information matching said request forreal estate information including said desired real estate price or saiddesired price range retrieved from a source of real estate informationfor sale from a plurality of real estate sellers; and a loan pricinginformation generated from at least: a source of loan informationcomprising: loan information offered by a plurality of lenders to makeloans, a plurality of loan types offered by a lender to make a loans, orboth; and said matching real estate information including real estatepricing information; at least a portion of said matching real estateinformation including real estate pricing information, and at least aportion of said generated loan pricing information, being available foruse or display together in real time or near real time said real estatebuyer computing device processor.
 22. The system as in claim 21, whereinsaid request for information comprises a request for loan informationcomprising a real estate buyer information received from said realestate buyer computing device; wherein said real estate buyerinformation comprises one or more: said real estate buyer financialinformation, down payment information, income information, debtinformation, employment information, occupancy information, and aninformation at least sufficient to indicate a credit score on said realestate buyer; and wherein said generated loan pricing information isgenerated from said real estate buyer information.
 23. The system as inclaim 22, wherein said request for loan information is selected from thegroup: a request for a loan quote, prequalification, preapproval andapproval information, and a loan application; and wherein said generatedloan pricing information is selected from the group comprising: a loanquote information, loan prequalification information, loan preapprovalinformation, and loan approval information.
 24. The system as in claim21, wherein said generated loan pricing information comprises one ormore: loan amount, an interest rate, a periodic loan payment, an annualpercentage rate or equivalent, and a loan discount.
 25. The system as inclaim 21, wherein said generated loan pricing information comprises oneor more: Good Faith Estimate information and Truth-in-Lendinginformation.
 26. The system as in claim 21, wherein said lenders andlender comprise one or more of: a loan finder, loan broker, directlender, loan correspondent, and wholesale lender.
 27. The system as inclaim 21, said first plurality of instructions further comprising:instructions that cause the first processor to return an information tobuy or own real estate retrieved from a source of said information tobuy or own real estate; at least a portion of said information to buy orown real estate being available to said real estate buyer computingdevice processor for use or display at least one time in real time ornear real time together with said matching real estate pricinginformation and said generated loan pricing information.
 28. The systemas in claim 27, wherein said information to buy or own real estatecomprises one or more: an information to provide a service, provide asettlement service, and transfer title to real estate; real estate taxinformation, a hazard insurance information, hazard insurance premiumpayment information, homeowners association payment information, and autility payment information; a bid, quote, price and cost information; alowest bid, quote and price information; information for a real estateagent service, real estate broker service, or a service normallyperformed by a real estate agent or broker, and an information whichenables a service provider to provide a service.
 29. The system as inclaim 21, wherein said first plurality of instructions, which, whenexecuted, cause the first processor to: send said request forinformation to: said sources of information in communication with thecomputing network; said sources able to return information in real timeor near real time in response requests for information, and; a secondcomputing processor in communication with the computing network; asecond computer-readable medium coupled to the second processor; saidsecond computer-readable medium storing a second plurality ofinstructions, which, when executed, cause the second processor toprovide a real estate transaction process, the second plurality ofinstructions comprising: instructions that cause the second computingprocessor to execute a loan underwriting instruction on said request andsaid source-generated information, and, return to said first computingprocessor, in real time and near real time, said generated loan pricinginformation.
 30. A computer method comprising the steps of: maintaininga first computing processor in communication with a computing network;receiving a request for real estate information comprising a desiredreal estate price from a real estate buyer computing device incommunication with the network; returning in real time or near real timea real estate information including real estate price informationmatching said desired real estate price retrieved from a source of realestate information including real estate price information, offered forsale from a plurality of real estate sellers; receiving from said realestate buyer computing device a request for loan information comprising:a selection of said real estate information including matching realestate price information, and at least one of: real estate buyer downpayment, income, debt information, and an information sufficient toidentify said real estate buyer to obtain a credit report or creditscore or determine the credit worthiness of said real estate buyer; andreturning a loan information including loan pricing informationcalculated by a second processor in communication with said network inreal time or near real time from at least: a loan information includingloan pricing information retrieved from a source of loan information incommunication with the network comprising one or more: loan informationincluding loan pricing information upon which a plurality of lendersoffer to make loans and a plurality of loan types upon which a lenderoffers to make loans, said selected matching real estate informationincluding real estate price information, and said real estate buyerinformation; wherein said selected matching real estate informationincluding real estate price information and said calculated loaninformation including loan pricing information are available for atleast display in real time or near real time by said real estate buyercomputing device.
 31. A computerized method comprising the steps of:maintaining a server computing device in communication with a computingnetwork; receiving a request for information comprising a desired realestate price or price range and a real estate buyer financialinformation inputted into a real estate buyer computing deviceconfigured to receive, display and send information; returning to saidreal estate buyer computing device: a real estate information includinga real estate pricing information retrieved from a database of realestate information including real estate pricing information for sale bya plurality of real estate sellers; and a loan information including aloan pricing information retrieved from a database of loan informationin communication with the network; said database comprising one or more:loan information upon which a plurality of lenders offer to make loansand a plurality of loan types which a lender offers to make loans;wherein said returned real estate information including real estatepricing information matching said inputted desired real estate price orprice range and said returned loan information including a loan pricinginformation generated in real time or near real time from: said inputteddesired real estate price or price range or said matching real estateinformation including real estate pricing information and said inputtedreal estate buyer financial information are available to said realestate buyer computing device processor for at least display together onsaid real estate buyer computing device in real time or near real time.32. The method of claim 31, wherein said inputted real estate buyerfinancial information comprises at least one of the following: said realestate buyer down payment, income, debt information, and an informationsufficient obtain a credit report or credit score information or todetermine the credit worthiness of said real estate buyer.
 33. Themethod of claim 31, wherein said returned, generated loan informationincluding a loan pricing information comprises at least one of: a loanamount, interest rate, periodic loan payment, annual percentage rate, aloan fee, a loan discount, and a loan escrow information.
 34. The methodof claim 31, wherein said periodic loan payment comprises at least oneof: a loan payment information, real estate tax payment information,mortgage insurance premium payment information, and hazard insurancepremium payment information.